CVE-2025-57854 PUBLISHED

Osus-operator: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions

Assigner: redhat
Reserved: 21.08.2025 Published: 08.04.2026 Updated: 08.04.2026

A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain OpenShift Update Service (OSUS) images. This issue stems from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during build time. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, may be able to leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This could allow the attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, leading to full root privileges within the container.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 6.4

Product Status

Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat OpenShift Update Service
Versions Default: affected

Credits

  • Red Hat would like to thank Antony Di Scala and Michael Whale for reporting this issue.

References

Problem Types

  • Incorrect Default Permissions CWE