LiveActive security incident?Get immediate response
CVE Record

CVE-2025-9566: Podman: podman kube play command may overwrite host files

There's a vulnerability in podman where an attacker may use the kube play command to overwrite host files when the kube file container a Secrete or a ConfigMap volume mount and such volume contains a symbolic link to a host file path. In a successful attack, the attacker can only control the target file to be overwritten but not the content to be written into the file. Binary-Affected: podman Upstream-version-introduced: v4.0.0 Upstream-version-fixed: v5.6.1

HighCVSS 8.1Not KEV-listedUpdated
Discuss exposureBack to CVEs
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

A crafted Kubernetes configuration processed by Podman can cause a symbolic link inside a Secret or ConfigMap volume to overwrite a chosen host file. This could corrupt configuration or disrupt the host. The attacker cannot control the replacement content, and the supplied evidence does not claim data disclosure.

Executive priority

Treat this as high priority on systems that process externally supplied or multi-tenant deployment files. Prioritize identifying exposed automation and applying vendor updates. Systems that never use `podman kube play` have substantially lower practical exposure, but should still be inventoried because the potential outcome includes host-file corruption and service disruption.

Technical view

CVE-2025-9566 is a CWE-22 path-handling flaw in `podman kube play`. A symbolic link within a mounted Secret or ConfigMap volume can resolve to a host path and cause that file to be overwritten. The CVSS 3.1 score is 8.1, reflecting high integrity and availability impact without identified confidentiality impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is highest where users or automation process attacker-influenced Kubernetes YAML with `podman kube play`. Upstream versions from 4.0.0 through versions before 5.6.1 are identified. The bundle also lists affected Red Hat packages with higher-looking versions, so downstream status must be checked against Red Hat advisories rather than semantic versions alone.

Exploitation context

The bundle reports no known active exploitation and marks KEV false. Exploitation requires an attacker-influenced kube file, a Secret or ConfigMap volume containing a symbolic link to a host path, and processing through `podman kube play`. The attacker selects the overwritten file but not the written content. Public exploit availability is not established by the supplied evidence.

Researcher notes

The attacker controls the destination file but not its resulting contents, limiting deterministic outcomes while retaining serious corruption and denial-of-service potential. Upstream introduction and fix points are 4.0.0 and 5.6.1. Because the affected list includes Red Hat builds whose visible versions exceed 5.6.1, package epoch, release, and advisory status are authoritative for downstream validation.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade upstream Podman to 5.6.1 or later; apply the applicable Red Hat advisory update for vendor packages.
  • Until updated, prevent `podman kube play` from processing untrusted or externally supplied kube files.
  • Restrict which users and automation can invoke `podman kube play` on sensitive hosts.
  • Review Secret and ConfigMap volume inputs for symbolic links targeting host paths.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Podman versions and package release identifiers on systems using `podman kube play`.
  • Compare upstream installations with 5.6.1; assess Red Hat builds through applicable errata rather than semantic version alone.
  • Review automation and deployment workflows for `podman kube play` processing attacker-influenced YAML.
  • Inspect relevant Secret and ConfigMap volume sources for symbolic links resolving to host files.
  • After updating, confirm the installed vendor package matches the corrected build specified by its advisory.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · medium confidence lookup

CWE-22: File access and web shell behavior lookup

File traversal and upload weaknesses can lead teams to review file, web shell, execution, and collection telemetry. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
description · low confidence lookup

Container behavior lookup

The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2025-9566 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.1 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
1ADP providers
33Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.1CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H2.85.2redhat

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.1High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2025-9566Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. Source timelineredhat

    Made public.

  3. Source timelineredhat

    Reported to Red Hat.

  4. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Unknown vendorpodmanpodman, 4.0.0unaffected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10podman, 6:5.4.0-13.el10_0affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10podman, 7:5.6.0-5.el10_1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10podman, 7:5.8.0-2.el10affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8container-tools:rhel8, 8100020250911075811.afee755daffected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Supportcontainer-tools:rhel8, 8060020250919150821.3b538bd8affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Servicecontainer-tools:rhel8, 8060020250919150821.3b538bd8affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Update Services for SAP Solutionscontainer-tools:rhel8, 8060020250919150821.3b538bd8affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Servicecontainer-tools:rhel8, 8080020250919060528.0f77c1b7affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutionscontainer-tools:rhel8, 8080020250919060528.0f77c1b7affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9podman, 5:5.4.0-13.el9_6affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9podman, 6:5.6.0-6.el9_7affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9podman, 6:5.8.0-1.el9affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Update Services for SAP Solutionspodman, 2:4.2.0-6.el9_0.5affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Update Services for SAP Solutionspodman, 2:4.4.1-22.el9_2.4affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Extended Update Supportpodman, 4:4.9.4-18.el9_4.3affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12rhcos, 412.86.202510291903-0affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13rhcos, 413.92.202510150118-0affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14kernel, 0:5.14.0-284.138.1.el9_2affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14kernel-rt, 0:5.14.0-284.138.1.rt14.423.el9_2affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14podman, 3:4.4.1-23.rhaos4.14.el8affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14rhcos, 414.92.202510211419-0affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15kernel, 0:5.14.0-284.138.1.el9_2affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15kernel-rt, 0:5.14.0-284.138.1.rt14.423.el9_2affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15podman, 3:4.4.1-35.rhaos4.15.el8affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.17rhcos, 417.94.202510112152-0affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18container-selinux, 4:2.237.0-1.rhaos4.18.el9affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18cri-o, 0:1.31.12-3.rhaos4.18.gitdc59c78.el8affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18kernel, 0:5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18openshift, 0:4.18.0-202509090932.p2.ga4cad44.assembly.stream.el8affected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-22

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-22 · source CWE mapping

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs