---
title: "CVE-2020-14316: Privilege Escalation in kubevirt"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2020-14316/
description: "CVE-2020-14316 (kubevirt.io/kubevirt (Go)): A flaw was found in kubevirt 0.29 and earlier. Virtual Machine Instances (VMIs) can be used to gain access to…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2020-07-29
date_modified: 2024-08-04
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2020-14316"
kev: false
cvss: 9.9
epss: 0.01576
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2020-14316: Privilege Escalation in kubevirt

**Signal:** Critical, preconditions apply. Severe if exploited, but exploitation needs conditions that may not apply to you. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
- EPSS 1.6% , percentile 75: FIRST’s model estimates a 1.6% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 75% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Needs an account (low (any account)). Exposure depends on who can log in.
- Only applies if your dependency tree includes kubevirt.io/kubevirt (Go) < 0.30.0, fixed in 0.30.0 . Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

## What it is

A flaw was found in kubevirt 0.29 and earlier. Virtual Machine Instances (VMIs) can be used to gain access to the host's filesystem. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to assume the privileges of the VM process on the host system. In worst-case scenarios an attacker can read and modify any file on the system where the VMI is running. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

## Affected packages

- Go `kubevirt.io/kubevirt` < 0.30.0 → fixed: 0.30.0

## Affected products (CVE record)

- n/a kubevirt: All versions before kubevirt 0.30.

## Severity

- GitHub CVSS 3.1: 9.9 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 1.58% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 75.

## Sources

- [GitHub Advisory GHSA-828r-r2c8-rfw3](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-828r-r2c8-rfw3)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2020-14316](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-14316)
- [NVD entry CVE-2020-14316](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-14316)
- [bugzilla.redhat.com](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1848951)
- [github.com](https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/pull/3686)

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Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2020-14316/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt