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GHSA-pwhc-rpq9-4c8w

HighCVSS 7.3 / 10
Published Nov 6, 2025·Last modified Feb 4, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Impact

An overly broad default permission vulnerability was found in containerd.

  • /var/lib/containerd was created with the permission bits 0o711, while it should be created with 0o700
    • Allowed local users on the host to potentially access the metadata store and the content store
  • /run/containerd/io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri was created with 0o755, while it should be created with 0o700
    • Allowed local users on the host to potentially access the contents of Kubernetes local volumes. The contents of volumes might include setuid binaries, which could allow a local user on the host to elevate privileges on the host.
  • /run/containerd/io.containerd.sandbox.controller.v1.shim was created with 0o711, while it should be created with 0o700

The directory paths may differ depending on the daemon configuration. When the temp directory path is specified in the daemon configuration, that directory was also created with 0o711, while it should be created with 0o700.

Patches

This bug has been fixed in the following containerd versions:

  • 2.2.0
  • 2.1.5
  • 2.0.7
  • 1.7.29

Users should update to these versions to resolve the issue. These updates automatically change the permissions of the existing directories.

[!NOTE]

/run/containerd and /run/containerd/io.containerd.runtime.v2.task are still created with 0o711. This is an expected behavior for supporting userns-remapped containers.

Workarounds

The system administrator on the host can manually chmod the directories to not have group or world accessible permisisons:

chmod 700 /var/lib/containerd
chmod 700 /run/containerd/io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri
chmod 700 /run/containerd/io.containerd.sandbox.controller.v1.shim

An alternative mitigation would be to run containerd in rootless mode.

Credits

The containerd project would like to thank David Leadbeater for responsibly disclosing this issue in accordance with the containerd security policy.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

To report a security issue in containerd:

Risk Scores
Base Score
7.3

The vulnerability requires local access to the device to be exploited. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. The attacker needs the user to perform some action, like clicking a link. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information. There is a high impact on the integrity of the data. There is a high impact on the availability of the system.

Threat Intelligence
6.7

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
0.16%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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High severity
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