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CVE-2023-25809 Moderate

rootless: `/sys/fs/cgroup` is writable when cgroupns isn't unshared in runc

runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification. In affected versions it was found that rootless runc makes `/sys/fs/cgroup` writable in following conditons: 1. when runc is executed inside the user namespace, and the `config.json` does not specify the cgroup namespace to be unshared (e.g.., `(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=host`, with Rootless Docker/Podman/nerdctl) or 2. when runc is executed outside the user namespace, and `/sys` is mounted with `rbind, ro` (e.g., `runc spec --rootless`; this condition is very rare). A container may gain the write access to user-owned cgroup hierarchy `/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/...` on the host . Other users's cgroup hierarchies are not affected. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.5. Users unable to upgrade may unshare the cgroup namespace (`(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=private)`. This is the default behavior of Docker/Podman/nerdctl on cgroup v2 hosts. or add `/sys/fs/cgroup` to `maskedPaths`.

Exploit probability 0.3%
Published March 29, 2023
Required by Not available
Last source change August 12, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Unknown Unknown

10 explicit affected versions

Go github.com/opencontainers/runc
Go github.com/opencontainers/runc

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities GHSA-m8cg-xc2p-r3fc

### Impact It was found that rootless runc makes `/sys/fs/cgroup` writable in following conditons: 1. when runc is executed inside the user namespace, and the `config.json` does not specify the cgroup namespace to be unshared (e.g.., `(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=host`, with Rootless Docker/Podman/nerdctl) 2. or, when runc is executed outside the user namespace, and `/sys` is mounted with `rbind, ro` (e.g., `runc spec --rootless`; this condition is very rare) A container may gain the write access to user-owned cgroup hierarchy `/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/...` on the host . Other users's cgroup hierarchies are not affected. ### Patches v1.1.5 (planned) ### Workarounds - Condition 1: Unshare the cgroup namespace (`(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=private)`. This is the default behavior of Docker/Podman/nerdctl on cgroup v2 hosts. - Condition 2 (very rare): add `/sys/fs/cgroup` to `maskedPaths`

View original source
Open Source Vulnerabilities GO-2023-1682

Rootless: /sys/fs/cgroup is writable when cgroupns isn't unshared in github.com/opencontainers/runc

View original source
Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2023-25809

runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification. In affected versions it was found that rootless runc makes `/sys/fs/cgroup` writable in following conditons: 1. when runc is executed inside the user namespace, and the `config.json` does not specify the cgroup namespace to be unshared (e.g.., `(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=host`, with Rootless Docker/Podman/nerdctl) or 2. when runc is executed outside the user namespace, and `/sys` is mounted with `rbind, ro` (e.g., `runc spec --rootless`; this condition is very rare). A container may gain the write access to user-owned cgroup hierarchy `/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/...` on the host . Other users's cgroup hierarchies are not affected. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.5. Users unable to upgrade may unshare the cgroup namespace (`(docker|podman|nerdctl) run --cgroupns=private)`. This is the default behavior of Docker/Podman/nerdctl on cgroup v2 hosts. or add `/sys/fs/cgroup` to `maskedPaths`.

View original source

05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence