CVE-2026-44517 Buildah: Build breakout using malicious Containerfile and Git Smart HTTP server or GitHub release tar archive
Attackers can use malicious Containerfiles or archives to escape build context directories, potentially executing code or reading sensitive files.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-44517?
CVE-2026-44517 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in containers buildah, published on 21 Aug 2026. 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
Buildah is a tool that facilitates building OCI images. From 1.38.1 until 1.43.2 and 1.44.0, TempDirForURL in define/types.go does not securely confine Git repository subdirectories to the downloaded build context, and downloadToDirectory and stdinToDirectory can follow a Dockerfile symlink left by a partially extracted tar archive. A malicious server supplying a Git repository or tar archive can cause files outside the build context directory to be included in the context or copied into the build. This issue is fixed in versions 1.43.2 and 1.44.0.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44517?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/containers/buildah.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/containers/buildah Go | From 1.38.1 | None |
github.com/containers/buildah Go | From 1.38.1 | 1.43.2 |
github.com/containers/buildah Go | From 1.38.1 | 1.43.2 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-44517?
Upgrade github.com/containers/buildah to 1.43.2 or later.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-44517 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44517 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-97652, BELL-CVE-2026-44517, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44517, GHSA-49p4-px3h-rq49, GO-2026-5116, MINI-rfjf-99g2-mrpc and 1 more.