CVE-2025-57852 Openshift-ai: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions
An attacker with container access can escalate to root by modifying the group-writable /etc/passwd file in KServe ModelMesh images.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-57852?
CVE-2025-57852 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.16, published on 30 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A container privilege escalation flaw was found in KServe ModelMesh container images. This issue stems from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during build time. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, can leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This could allow the attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, leading to full root privileges within the container.
Weakness: CWE-276
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-57852?
How do I fix CVE-2025-57852?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-57852 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2025-57852 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-57852 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-33j5-frrm-3wg2.