High [CVE-2026-53492] Security bypass via Container Device Interface (CDI) annotation smuggling during checkpoint restoration.

containerd is an open-source container runtime. In Versions prior to 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9, the CRI implementation improperly trusts Container Device Interface (CDI) annotations found within untrusted checkpoint image metadata during container restoration.

When restoring a container from a checkpoint, containerd preserves CDI-related annotations from the checkpoint archive rather than relying solely on the pod's create-time specification.

This allows a user with pod creation permissions to bypass standard Kubernetes resource allocation and device plugin enforcement, injecting arbitrary CDI edits (such as device nodes and host mounts) into the restored container.

Successful exploitation requires that the node has CDI enabled and contains a matching host CDI specification for the requested device; environments where CDI is disabled or lacking sensitive device specifications are not affected.

Consequently, an attacker can inject arbitrary CDI edits, such as device nodes and host mounts, into the restored container, potentially leading to unauthorized resource access or privilege escalation. This flaw is rated as Important.

Red Hat severity: Important — CVSS 8.2 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N). Weakness: CWE-807.