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KubevirtApplication

CVE-2025-64437

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.3 or later.
See remediation →
52/100
Remediation priority · Moderate
Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions before 1.5.3 and 1.6.1, the virt-handler does not verify whether the launcher-sock is a symlink or a regular file. This oversight can be exploited, for example, to change the ownership of arbitrary files on the host node to the unprivileged user with UID 107 (the same user used by virt-launcher) thus, compromising the CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability) of data on the host. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker should be in control of the file system of the virt-launcher pod. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.3 and 1.6.1.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-59

A file operation follows a symbolic link without checking where it actually points, so an attacker who can plant or swap a link redirects the operation to a file they should not be able to touch. It is a common local privilege-escalation primitive. Remediation is resolving and validating the real target path, and avoiding operations on attacker-controllable links.

General guidance for the link following (symlink) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
KubevirtApplication
Affected:< 1.5.3= 1.6.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.5.3 or later
Fixed in 1.5.3
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

KubeVirt 1.5.3 or 1.6.1 (depending on current major.minor version)

  1. 1. Identify the current KubeVirt version installed in the cluster using: kubectl get kubevirt.kubevirt.io/kubevirt -n kubevirt -o jsonpath='{.spec.version}'
  2. 2. If running a version < 1.5.3, plan upgrade to version 1.5.3
  3. 3. If running version 1.6.0, plan upgrade to version 1.6.1
  4. 4. Backup etcd and any critical cluster state before upgrading
  5. 5. Apply the KubeVirt upgrade using the appropriate method for your deployment (e.g., kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/releases/download/v1.5.3/kubevirt-operator.yaml or using a package manager if deployed via operator)
  6. 6. Wait for the KubeVirt operator to reconcile and update all components
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade by checking the kubevirt CR status: kubectl get kubevirt.kubevirt.io/kubevirt -n kubevirt
  8. 8. Confirm the running version matches the target fixed version (1.5.3 or 1.6.1)
Caveat Review KubeVirt release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and the target fixed version before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-64437 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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