# CVE-2025-3528: Mirror-registry: local privilege escalation due to incorrect permissions in mirror-registry

> A malicious actor with container access can modify /etc/passwd to escalate privileges to root within the pod.

- **Severity:** High 8.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 May 2025
- **Updated:** 27 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4mjc-w6xm-8xxc

## What is CVE-2025-3528?

CVE-2025-3528 is a high-severity vulnerability in Red Hat MIRROR-REGISTRY-2.0-RHEL-8, published on 9 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A flaw was found in the Mirror Registry. The quay-app container shipped as part of the Mirror Registry for OpenShift has write access to the `/etc/passwd`. This flaw allows a malicious actor with access to the container to modify the passwd file and elevate their privileges to the root user within that pod.

Weakness: CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-3528?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-3528?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-3528 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-3528 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-3528 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-3528 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-3528 is a high-severity vulnerability in Red Hat MIRROR-REGISTRY-2.0-RHEL-8, published on 9 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-3528 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat MIRROR-REGISTRY-2.0-RHEL-8. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3528/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3528/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-3528
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-3528
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-3528

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3528/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.