MediumCVE-2026-76654

    Subpath symlinking on Windows nodes permits NTLM coercion (CVE-2026-76654)

    Published Last modified Sources: CVE.org, BSI

    What is affected, what to do

    An NTLM coercion vulnerability exists on Windows nodes when the subPath supplied in a pod's volumeMounts is set to a symbolic link that points to an attacker-controlled network share. When a kubelet resolves symlinks, it does not reject a target that resolves to a UNC path.

    Update Kubernetes kubelet to version 1.34.12.

    Affected
    • Kubernetes lte v1.34.0..v1.34.11
    • Kubernetes lte v1.35.0..v1.35.8
    • Kubernetes lte v1.36.0..v1.36.4
    • Kubernetes lte v1.37.0..v1.37.0

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    5.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    5.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org, BSI

    —

    EPSS score

    No value is available for this vulnerability.

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Medium
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    59.00 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    5.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    5.8
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-59

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    An NTLM coercion vulnerability exists on Windows nodes when the subPath supplied in a pod's volumeMounts is set to a symbolic link that points to an attacker-controlled network share. When a kubelet resolves symlinks, it does not reject a target that resolves to a UNC path. As a result, the kubelet will transparently attempt to authenticate to the share using NTLM. This allows an attacker to obtain the NetNTLMv2 hash of the account under which the kubelet is running. An attacker could then attempt to crack the hash to retrieve the corresponding password or relay it to impersonate the node, if the node is domain-joined.

    Source: cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE), BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    KubernetesKubernetes
    • v1.36.0 – ≤ v1.36.4
    • ≤ v1.37.0
    • v1.35.0 – ≤ v1.35.8
    • v1.34.0 – ≤ v1.34.11
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    Open SourceKubernetes kubelet
    • < 1.34.12
    • < 1.35.9
    • < 1.37.1
    • < 1.36.5
    • 1.34.12
    • 1.35.9
    • 1.37.1
    • 1.36.5

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

      Base

      The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-59

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedCVE Program

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/23/36

      Source identifier: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    2. Receivedliggitt.net

      CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

      Weakness type: CWE-59

      Description added or changed

      Show 6 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionadded
      —
      An NTLM coercion vulnerability exists on Windows nodes when the subPath supplied in a pod's volumeMounts is set to a symbolic link that points to an attacker-controlled network share. When a kubelet resolves symlinks, it does not reject a target that resolves to a UNC path. As a result, the kubelet will transparently attempt to authenticate to the share using NTLM. This allows an attacker to obtain the NetNTLMv2 hash of the account under which the kubelet is running. An attacker could then attempt to crack the hash to retrieve the corresponding password or relay it to impersonate the node, if the node is domain-joined.
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-59
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/76xxx/CVE-2026-76654.json">CVE-2026-76654</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/142098
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/Wkv04IFzW8g

      Source identifier: jordan@liggitt.net

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