---
id: CVE-2026-44778
title: >-
  Inspektor Gadget is a set of tools and framework for data collection and
  system inspection on Kubernetes clusters and Linux hosts using eBPF
summary: >-
  Inspektor Gadget is a set of tools and framework for data collection and
  system inspection on Kubernetes clusters and Linux hosts using eBPF. From
  0.28.0 until 0.53.1, the USDT note parser in pkg/uprobetracer/usdt.go can
  allow an unprivi…
severity: low
cvss: 2.9
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P'
cwe:
  - CWE-20
vendor: inspektor-gadget
product: inspektor-gadget
affected:
  - 'inspektor-gadget >= 0.28.0, < 0.53.1'
patched:
  - github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget 0.53.1
published: '2026-09-15'
updated: '2026-09-17'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-17T17:16:41.420'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44778'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/commit/27263e50d6287891eee4d9a1cfae62681260e1a2
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/commit/aaffacc6a9e43b4de5ce8f8148e6c2d9a1ea6026
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/pull/5547'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/releases/tag/v0.53.1'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/security/advisories/GHSA-7cfq-5mhv-jrp9
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/commit/ec69da2e00c39bc43f389f943899e5ff9c7b011a
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7cfq-5mhv-jrp9'
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44778.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44778'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-44778'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - ghsa
  - go
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - score-dispute
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-17T16:19:10.942625Z'
cvssSource: cna
epss: 0.0063
epssPercentile: 0.47948
ecosystem: go
scores:
  cna: 2.9
  vendor: 6.5
ingestedAt: '2026-06-29T13:24:35.510Z'
---

## Overview

Inspektor Gadget is a set of tools and framework for data collection and system inspection on Kubernetes clusters and Linux hosts using eBPF. From 0.28.0 until 0.53.1, the USDT note parser in pkg/uprobetracer/usdt.go can allow an unprivileged container to crash or exhaust the memory of the privileged Inspektor Gadget process when a custom gadget containing a SEC("usdt/...") eBPF section attaches to a crafted ELF binary. The getUsdtInfo() function reads the .note.stapsdt section without validating that DescSize is large enough for three address fields, allowing an out-of-bounds slice operation to panic, and it uses untrusted NameSize and DescSize values for allocations that can consume gigabytes of memory. The parser also invokes debug/elf without panic recovery, allowing other malformed ELF structures to terminate the process. No gadget shipped by Inspektor Gadget uses USDT probes, so only deployments using custom USDT gadgets are affected, and the demonstrated impact is denial of service rather than code execution or privilege escalation. This issue is fixed in version 0.53.1.

## Remediation

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

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-44778)

Affected packages:

- `github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget >= 0.28.0, < 0.53.1`

Patched in:

- `github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget 0.53.1`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7cfq-5mhv-jrp9

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · updated 2026-09-15 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44778.json)