CVE-2026-15809 Github.com/cri-o/cri-o: fix bypass for cve-2022-4318 — /etc/passwd injection via home env
Attackers can inject newlines into the HOME environment variable to modify /etc/passwd, enabling privilege escalation within containers.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-15809?
CVE-2026-15809 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Red Hat Confidential Compute Attestation, published on 15 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in CRI-O. The fix for a previous vulnerability (CVE-2022-4318) was incorrect, allowing it to be bypassed. An attacker capable of setting environment variables on a container can inject a newline character into the HOME environment variable. This issue allows the addition of arbitrary lines into /etc/passwd by use of a specially crafted environment variable.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-15809?
How do I fix CVE-2026-15809?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.
Is CVE-2026-15809 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-15809 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-92391, GHSA-9gq4-2485-q63q.