CVE-2026-15809
Received Received - Intake

Incorrect Fix Bypass in CRI-O Allows Arbitrary /etc/passwd Modification

Publication date: 2026-07-15

Last updated on: 2026-07-15

Assigner: Red Hat, Inc.

Description
A flaw was found in CRI-O. The fix for a previous vulnerability (CVE-2022-4318) was incorrect, allowing it to be bypassed. An attacker capable of setting environment variables on a container can inject a newline character into the HOME environment variable. This issue allows the addition of arbitrary lines into /etc/passwd by use of a specially crafted environment variable.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-15
Last Modified
2026-07-15
Generated
2026-07-15
AI Q&A
2026-07-15
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-15809
EUVD
EUVD-2026-44661

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
cri-o cri-o 1.25.0
redhat cri-o *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-116 The product prepares a structured message for communication with another component, but encoding or escaping of the data is either missing or done incorrectly. As a result, the intended structure of the message is not preserved.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a bypass of a previous fix in CRI-O. An attacker who can set environment variables in a container can inject a newline into the HOME variable. This allows writing arbitrary lines into the /etc/passwd file on the host system.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could gain elevated privileges by modifying /etc/passwd, potentially leading to unauthorized access to the system or container. This could allow them to execute arbitrary code or escalate their privileges.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access or privilege escalation, violating data integrity and confidentiality requirements in GDPR and HIPAA. Non-compliance may result in legal penalties or data breaches.

Mitigation Strategies

Update CRI-O to the latest version that includes the corrected fix for CVE-2022-4318. Monitor containers for suspicious environment variable modifications, particularly HOME variables containing newline characters.

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