---
id: CVE-2026-100838
title: Contrast is a confidential-computing runtime for Kubernetes
summary: >-
  Contrast is a confidential-computing runtime for Kubernetes. In versions
  before 1.19.1, the Kata agent policies generated by the Contrast CLI contained
  a flaw in the CopyFile verification that allowed arbitrary writes to the guest
  root f…
severity: high
cvss: 8.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-59
vendor: edgelesssys
product: contrast
affected:
  - contrast < 1.19.1
published: '2026-09-27'
updated: '2026-09-27'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-27T02:17:22.083'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-100838'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/edgelesssys/contrast/security/advisories/GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/contrast-before-1.19.1-copyfile-policy-symlink-subversion
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-09-27T02:41:45.571Z'
---

## Overview

Contrast is a confidential-computing runtime for Kubernetes. In versions before 1.19.1, the Kata agent policies generated by the Contrast CLI contained a flaw in the CopyFile verification that allowed arbitrary writes to the guest root filesystem. A malicious process on the untrusted host able to connect to the Kata agent VSOCK could issue a series of CopyFile requests to overwrite security-critical files in the guest or trick the workload into disclosing sensitive data, effectively amounting to a full guest takeover. Users unable to upgrade can apply an equivalent rego policy fix passed to 'contrast generate --policy'.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.