#VU98817 UNIX symbolic link following in Podman - CVE-2024-9676

Vulnerability identifier: #VU98817

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2024-9676

CWE-ID: CWE-61

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Podman
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: Container Projects

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a symlink following issue when running a malicious image using an automatically assigned user namespace (`--userns=auto` in Podman and Buildah). A local user can create a symbolic link to an arbitrary file on the system, force the library to read it and perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Podman: 5.0.0 rc1 - 5.2.3

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External links
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-9676
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2317467
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-wq2p-5pc6-wpgf

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.