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Cri OApplication · Kubernetes

CVE-2022-4318

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability was found in cri-o. This issue allows the addition of arbitrary lines into /etc/passwd by use of a specially crafted environment variable.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A vulnerability in cri-o allows adding arbitrary lines to /etc/passwd through specially crafted environment variables, enabling privilege escalation. An attacker who can control container environment variables could modify the passwd file to create new users or escalate privileges.

MitigationRestrict control over container environment variables and update cri-o to the patched version. Review container orchestration policies to limit podspec modifications.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Cri OApplication
Affected:all versions
Openshift Container Platform For Arm64Application
Affected:= 4.12= 4.11
Openshift Container Platform For LinuxoneApplication
Affected:= 4.12= 4.11
Openshift Container Platform For PowerApplication
Affected:= 4.12= 4.11
Openshift Container Platform Ibm Z SystemsApplication
Affected:= 4.12= 4.11
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 36= 37
Extra Packages For Enterprise LinuxApplication
Affected:= 8.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify cri-o is installed
    Run 'crio --version' or check for the crio.service via 'systemctl list-unit-files | grep crio'
    Affected if crio is installed and running as a container runtime
  2. Check cri-o version
    Run 'crio --version' to get the exact version number
    Affected if any version of cri-o is installed (all versions are affected)
  3. Identify if untrusted users can create container pods
    Review RBAC policies: run 'kubectl auth can-i create pods --as=<user>' for non-admin users, or check RoleBinding/ClusterRoleBinding definitions in the cluster
    Affected if untrusted or low-privilege users have the ability to create pods and set environment variables
  4. Check for pod creation capabilities in orchestration
    Review podspec modification permissions in Kubernetes or OpenShift: examine ClusterRole bindings for 'create' and 'update' verbs on 'pods' resources
    Affected if users other than cluster admins can create or modify pod specifications with custom environment variables

The environment is affected if cri-o is running as the container runtime AND untrusted users or processes can control container environment variables through pod creation or modification.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict control over container environment variables and update cri-o to the patched version. Review container orchestration policies to limit podspec modifications.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to the latest cri-o version available from vendor repositories (crio 1.25+ or latest 1.26/1.27 stable release containing the security fix)

  1. Identify the current cri-o version in use: `crio --version` or `rpm -q cri-o`
  2. For OpenShift clusters, run `oc get nodes` to identify all nodes running cri-o
  3. For standalone cri-o installations, check the cri-o service version
  4. For Fedora systems: run `dnf update cri-o` to apply the latest security updates
  5. For RHEL/EPEL systems: run `yum update cri-o` to apply the latest security updates
  6. For OpenShift Container Platform: run `oc adm upgrade` or use `oc apply cluster-bot` upgrade commands to upgrade to the latest available release that includes the cri-o security fix
  7. Verify the update was applied by checking the cri-o version again: `crio --version`
  8. Restart the cri-o service if required: `systemctl restart crio` (or appropriate container runtime service)
Caveat Review cri-o release notes for any breaking changes between current and target version; may require container runtime configuration adjustments

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Cri O Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-4318 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data