runc: Malicious image with /dev symlink can trigger limited host filesystem integrity violations

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Summary

CVECVE-2026-41579
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-01 02:17:00 UTC
Updated2026-07-02 19:36:49 UTC
Descriptionrunc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification. In versions prior to 1.3.6, 1.4.0-rc.1, 1.4.0-rc.12, 1.5.0-rc.1, and 1.5.0-rc.1, when setting up the container rootfs, setupPtmx and setupDevSymlinks call os.Remove and os.Symlink with a filepath.Join string which allow an image with /dev as a symlink to trick runc into deleting files called ptmx on the host or creating a hardcoded set of symlinks with specific names and targets in an arbitrary pre-existing host directory. This issue is not exploitable under Docker, because Docker creates a top-level read-only layer that masks any malicious /dev symlink present in the container image — unlike some other Linux container tooling, whose higher-level runtimes built on runc remain exposed to exploitation via a malicious image. This issue has been fixed in versions 1.3.6, 1.4.3 and 1.5.0.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 3.3 LOW from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

EPSS: 0.002220000 probability, percentile 0.126670000 (date 2026-07-05)

Problem Types: CWE-61 | CWE-61 CWE-61: UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary3.3LOWCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED3.3LOWCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Linuxfoundation Runc All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Opencontainers Runc affected < 1.3.6 Not specified
CNA Opencontainers Runc affected >= 1.4.0-rc.1, < 1.4.3 Not specified
CNA Opencontainers Runc affected >= 1.5.0-rc.1, < 1.5.0-rc.3 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-xjvp-4fhw-gc47 [email protected] github.com Mitigation, Patch, Vendor Advisory
github.com/opencontainers/runc/commit/864db8042dbb [email protected] github.com Patch
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NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
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