How severe is CVE-2024-21626?

CVE-2024-21626 has a CVSS score of 8.6/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-21626?

CVE-2024-21626 affects the following packages: github.com/opencontainers/runc (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2024-21626?

Update github.com/opencontainers/runc to 1.1.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-21626 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-21626 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/opencontainers/runc. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-21626 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2024-21626?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2024-21626 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2024-21626 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 15 known exploit references for CVE-2024-21626, including 10 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2024-21626?

CVE-2024-21626 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 17.3%, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2024-21626?

CVE-2024-21626 is classified as CWE-403 (CWE-403), CWE-668 (CWE-668). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2024-21626 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-21626 was published on January 31, 2024 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹 Go

CVE-2024-21626

HIGH

runc container breakout through process.cwd trickery and leaked fds

Also known asGHSA-xr7r-f8xq-vfvvGO-2024-2491

Published

Jan 31, 2024

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

15 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

17.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Moderate Risk97th percentile+12.20%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/opencontainers/runc

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers on Linux according to the OCI specification. In runc 1.1.11 and earlier, due to an internal file descriptor leak, an attacker could cause a newly-spawned container process (from runc exec) to have a working directory in the host filesystem namespace, allowing for a container escape by giving access to the host filesystem ("attack 2"). The same attack could be used by a malicious image to allow a container process to gain access to the host filesystem through runc run ("attack 1"). Variants of attacks 1 and 2 could be also be used to overwrite semi-arbitrary host binaries, allowing for complete container escapes ("attack 3a" and "attack 3b"). runc 1.1.12 includes patches for this issue.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/opencontainers/runc`	≥ 1.0.0-rc93&&< 1.1.12	1.1.12

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.