A flaw was found in the interaction between systemd-gpt-auto-generator and
confidential computing guest VM images in OpenShift Sandboxed Containers
(confidential peer pods). systemd-gpt-auto-generator automatically discovers
and mounts GPT partitions by type GUID at boot with no user confirmation. In
the confidential computing threat model, where the host/hypervisor is the
adversary, a malicious host can inject partitions into the guest's virtual
disk. Most critically, injecting a swap partition causes the guest kernel to
page out TEE-encrypted memory to a host-controlled block device, breaking the
confidentiality guarantee of the hardware TEE (AMD SEV-SNP, Intel TDX).

The PodVM images use a GPT-partitioned disk with dm-verity on the root
partition. However, the roothash= kernel parameter only disables root
auto-discovery — non-root partitions (swap, /home, /var, /srv, /var/tmp) are
still auto-discovered and mounted. The generator is shipped unmasked in the
RHEL systemd-udev subpackage, and no kernel command line parameter in the
measured UKI addon disables it. Additionally, the PodVM measurement script
captures PCRs 3, 9, 11, and 12, but not PCR 5 (GPT partition table), so
partition table modifications are not detected by remote attestation.

Project Subscriptions

Vendors Products
Enterprise Linux Subscribe
Openshift Subscribe
Rhel Els Subscribe
Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

Add systemd.gpt_auto=0 to the measured kernel command line (UKI addon) to completely disable systemd-gpt-auto-generator. Since the PodVM already uses explicit partition layout and dm-verity, auto-discovery is unnecessary. The patches released are using the following mitigation: `systemd.image_policy=root=open`. Alternative mitigations: - Disable swap specifically: add systemd.swap=0 to the kernel command line - Mask the generator in the guest image: ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system-generators/systemd-gpt-auto-generator - Include PCR 5 in the PodVM measurement script alongside PCRs 3, 9, 11, 12 - For systemd 254+: set restrictive image policy via systemd.image_policy=root=verity+signed+encrypted+unprotected+absent:swap=absent:home=absent:srv=absent:var=absent:tmp=absent

History

Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in the interaction between systemd-gpt-auto-generator and confidential computing guest VM images in OpenShift Sandboxed Containers (confidential peer pods). systemd-gpt-auto-generator automatically discovers and mounts GPT partitions by type GUID at boot with no user confirmation. In the confidential computing threat model, where the host/hypervisor is the adversary, a malicious host can inject partitions into the guest's virtual disk. Most critically, injecting a swap partition causes the guest kernel to page out TEE-encrypted memory to a host-controlled block device, breaking the confidentiality guarantee of the hardware TEE (AMD SEV-SNP, Intel TDX). The PodVM images use a GPT-partitioned disk with dm-verity on the root partition. However, the roothash= kernel parameter only disables root auto-discovery — non-root partitions (swap, /home, /var, /srv, /var/tmp) are still auto-discovered and mounted. The generator is shipped unmasked in the RHEL systemd-udev subpackage, and no kernel command line parameter in the measured UKI addon disables it. Additionally, the PodVM measurement script captures PCRs 3, 9, 11, and 12, but not PCR 5 (GPT partition table), so partition table modifications are not detected by remote attestation.
Title Sandboxed-containers: kernel: systemd-gpt-auto-generator: guest data leakage in confidential computing (sandboxed containers)
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift
Redhat rhel Els
Weaknesses CWE-359
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4
cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:5
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:6
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:7
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift
Redhat rhel Els
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'}


Projects

Sign in to view the affected projects.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-12T18:49:52.690Z

Reserved: 2026-11-04T10:34:49.034Z

Link: CVE-2026-121876

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-11-12T17:17:29.040

Modified: 2026-11-12T17:17:29.170

Link: CVE-2026-121876

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses