CVE-2026-55686: podman — Exploit & Fix

Description

Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 3.0.0 until 5.7.1, running a malicious container image where the WORKDIR path contains a symlink can create a directory or modify ownership on the host filesystem. Modified ownership is less likely to happen as that requires help from an untrusted/malicious process that mutates the host filesystem tree during dereferencing of the WORKDIR path, to trigger a race condition. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.7.1.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.3

MEDIUM

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

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0032

Probability of exploitation

0.24%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-61 CWE-61

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
podman_project	podman	3.0.0 — 5.7.1

References

Advisories & Patches

https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/commit/d18e44e9abb3bf5b7294aa70806e1368fdddfdd0 https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/security/advisories/GHSA-q6r4-3wmg-fwcq https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/security/advisories/GHSA-q6r4-3wmg-fwcq

Exploits

https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/security/advisories/GHSA-q6r4-3wmg-fwcq https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/security/advisories/GHSA-q6r4-3wmg-fwcq

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-55686? +

Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 3.0.0 until 5.7.1, running a malicious container image where the WORKDIR path contains a symlink can create a directory or modify ownership on the host filesystem. Modified ownership is less likely to happen as that requires help from an untrusted/malicious process that mutates the host filesystem tree during dereferencing of the WORKDIR path, to trigger a race condition. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.7.1. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-55686? +

CVE-2026-55686 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.3 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0032, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

What products are affected by CVE-2026-55686? +

CVE-2026-55686 affects products from podman_project, specifically: podman. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-55686? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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