CVE-2026-57231 Podman: Malformed Image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container
A malicious container image can exfiltrate host environment variables into the container, exposing sensitive data to attackers.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-57231?
CVE-2026-57231 is a high-severity vulnerability in podman-container-tools podman, published on 26 Jun 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 1.8.1 until 5.8.4, a container image that contains a environment variable with just a key and no value can trick podman into passing that variable from the host into the container. This is made worse by the fact that using an asterisk (*) will cause podman to pass all host variables into the container. So essentially a malicious image can exfiltrate all podman environment variables that are set in the session from where the container is launched. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-57231?
19 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/containers/podman, github.com/containers/libpod and github.com/containers/podman/v2. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/containers/podman Go | All versions | None |
github.com/containers/podman Go | From 1.8.1 | None |
github.com/containers/podman Go | From 1.8.1 | None |
github.com/containers/libpod Go | From 1.8.1 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v2 Go | All versions | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v2 Go | All versions to 2.2.1 | None |
13 more packages
github.com/containers/podman/v2 Go | All versions to 2.2.1 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v3 Go | All versions | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v3 Go | All versions to 3.4.7 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v3 Go | All versions to 3.4.7 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v4 Go | All versions | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v4 Go | All versions to 4.9.5 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v4 Go | All versions to 4.9.5 | None |
github.com/containers/podman/v5 Go | All versions | 5.8.4 |
github.com/containers/podman/v5 Go | All versions | 5.8.4 |
github.com/containers/podman/v5 Go | All versions | 5.8.4 |
go.podman.io/podman/v6 Go | All versions | 6.0.0 |
go.podman.io/podman/v6 Go | All versions | 6.0.0 |
go.podman.io/podman/v6 Go | All versions | 6.0.0 |
Linux distribution packages (1)
podman openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 6.0.2-1.1 |
Products include Podman Project Podman.
How do I fix CVE-2026-57231?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-57231 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-57231 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in podman-container-tools podman
- CVE-2022-2738 Use after free in podman
- CVE-2022-2989 Podman's incorrect handling of the supplementary groups may lead to data disclosure, modification
- CVE-2021-20188 Improper Authorization in github.com/containers/libpod
- CVE-2023-0778 Podman Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
- CVE-2019-25067 Podman/Varlink API Privilege Escalation
Sources
Also known as AZL-91448, BELL-CVE-2026-57231, CLSA-2026-1784074201, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-57231, GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68, GO-2026-6594 and 5 more.