CVE-2026-16487 Red Hat Product Security has determined that this is not a vulnerability in bootc or containers-common.
Not scored
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-16487 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2026-16487 is a vulnerability, published on 19 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16487 in the wild and no public exploit code.
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-2026-16487/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16487/index.md)
Attackers can execute arbitrary code as root by pushing unsigned content to mutable image tags, bypassing default signature verification during bootc updates.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-16487?
CVE-2026-16487 is a vulnerability, published on 19 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Red Hat Product Security has determined that this is not a vulnerability in bootc or containers-common. bootc fetches images under /etc/containers/policy.json. The shipped default is insecureAcceptAnything for registries without an explicit signature requirement; registry.redhat.io and registry.access.redhat.com require signatures. Updating a mutable tag requires the ability to publish to the reference an administrator has already configured the host to follow. Requiring signatures is available through that policy and through bootc enforce-container-sigpolicy, which is off by default. Persistence of /var across bootc rollback is expected image-mode behavior.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16487?
How do I fix CVE-2026-16487?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16487 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-16487 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16487 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-66j5-6c8v-q8pj.