Bug 2495813 (CVE-2026-41579)

Summary: CVE-2026-41579 runc: runc: Host filesystem integrity compromised by malicious container images
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in runc, a tool used to run containers. A malicious container image, crafted with a specific type of symbolic link in its `/dev` directory, can deceive runc. This deception could lead to the deletion of certain files or the creation of predefined symbolic links on the host system where the container is running. This vulnerability, known as Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Path (CWE-61), primarily affects container runtimes like Podman and containerd that utilize runc, potentially compromising the integrity of the host's filesystem.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-01 02:01:23 UTC 
runc 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.