CVE-2026-121885
Podman: untrusted image labels allow auto-update to restart arbitrary systemd units
A flaw was found in Podman. An attacker can trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by supplying a container image containing crafted metadata labels. Podman's auto-update mechanism improperly trusts these image labels to determine which system services to restart. If a user runs the malicious container and auto-update processes it, arbitrary system services are restarted with the user's privileges, potentially allowing an attacker to shut down the host system when Podman runs with administrative privileges.
Fixes and workarounds
Workaround
Do not use podman auto-update on untrusted containers or images. Before running an image, inspect its labels with podman image inspect --format '.Config.Labels' and verify that the io.containers.autoupdate and PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT labels are not set. For existing containers, inspect their labels and ensure that auto-update labels are configured correctly and only present on containers intended to use auto-update.
Source: CNA: redhatAffected products and versions
| Product | Versions | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Red Hat podman
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/ |
Range not reported
Other versions: affected |
CNA: redhat |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat container-tools:rhel8/podman
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/ |
Range not reported
Other versions: affected |
CNA: redhat |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Red Hat podman
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/ |
Range not reported
Other versions: affected |
CNA: redhat |
| Red Hat Hardened Images Red Hat podman
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/ |
Range not reported
Other versions: affected |
CNA: redhat |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 Red Hat podman
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/ |
Range not reported
Other versions: affected |
CNA: redhat |
Version ranges are source assertions. Check the vendor advisory and your installed configuration before determining exposure.
CVSS assessments
| Version / score | Vector | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 / 6.5 medium |
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | CNA: redhat |
Exploit evidence
No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.
References
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-121885CNA: redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2566844CNA: redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
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