---
id: CVE-2026-53495
title: containerd is an open-source container runtime
summary: >-
  containerd is an open-source container runtime. Prior to 1.7.35, 2.0.12,
  2.2.8, and 2.3.5, containerd on Linux with the CRI plugin enabled can
  indefinitely block the drainExecSyncIO goroutine in
  internal/cri/server/container_execsync.go …
severity: medium
cvss: 6.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-400
  - CWE-772
vendor: containerd
product: containerd
affected:
  - containerd < 1.7.35
  - 'containerd >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.12'
  - 'containerd >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.8'
  - 'containerd >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.5'
patched:
  - github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.0.12
  - github.com/containerd/containerd 1.7.35
  - github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.2.8
  - github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.3.5
published: '2026-09-14'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T14:10:13.927'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53495'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/22ccf4314d1fe0834f8e28f10d37d5305ef9880c
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/5a2a3a759b0d2ad8c821b33c3afc20890daf6d81
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/9ec55f024041d0641f6d79841e45c8781141ddaa
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/eebea8c4c912f44b656c8295c9e6607a19b76650
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/ff39a972369e2f12fae561a58d658bbf8f2bc318
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.0.12'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.2.8'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.3.5'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/containerd/containerd/security/advisories/GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/containerd/containerd'
  - url: 'https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.7.35'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv'
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-53495.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53495'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2533230'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53495'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53495'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - osv
  - go
  - ghsa
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00169
epssPercentile: 0.05488
aliases:
  - GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv
  - GO-2026-6444
ecosystem: go
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-14T17:33:20.990571Z'
cvssSource: cna
scores:
  cna: 6.8
  vendor: 5.5
ingestedAt: '2026-09-09T18:17:58.314Z'
---

## Overview

containerd is an open-source container runtime. Prior to 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5, containerd on Linux with the CRI plugin enabled can indefinitely block the drainExecSyncIO goroutine in internal/cri/server/container_execsync.go when CRI ExecSync is used by exec probes or lifecycle hooks that launch long-lived background child processes retaining standard input and output pipes. The input and output drain phase has no default timeout and did not stop when the request context was canceled, so repeated ExecSync invocations can accumulate blocked goroutines and host memory. The resulting resource exhaustion can cause the OOM killer to terminate containerd, leaving the container runtime unavailable until restart. Deployments not using containerd's CRI implementation and containers not running on Linux are not affected. This issue is fixed in versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5.

## Remediation

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

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-53495)

Affected packages:

- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 < 2.0.12`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd < 1.7.35`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.8`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.5`

Patched in:

- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.0.12`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd 1.7.35`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.2.8`
- `github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 2.3.5`

Source: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Assisted Installer for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 2, AWS Load Balancer Operator, Compliance Operator, Confidential Compute Attestation, Custom Metric Autoscaler operator for Red Hat Openshift, Deployment Validation Operator, … · no fix planned: Assisted Installer for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 2, AWS Load Balancer Operator, Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift, Logical Volume Manager Storage, … · updated 2026-09-15 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-53495.json)