Vulnerabilities in pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman

PACKAGE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-2cvf-wqm6-wr9g
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-94603 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 10.0) the `podman run` command can vulnerability (CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure) affecting Podman libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves the `podman run` command can be instructed to disable almost all sandboxing by image annotation. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.8.8, 6.1.3.

7 Known Advisory Record(s)
Package Vulnerability Intelligence

pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman

7 Known Advisory Record(s)

Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.

Advisory ID CVE / NVD Severity Summary
GHSA-2cvf-wqm6-wr9g CVE-2026-94603 CRITICAL Podman: The `podman run` command can be instructed to disable almost all sandboxing by image annotation
GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68 CVE-2026-57231 HIGH Podman: Malformed Image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container
GHSA-rpcc-p8xm-rc6p CVE-2024-3056 HIGH Podman vulnerable to memory-based denial of service
GHSA-fhqq-8f65-5xfc CVE-2024-9407 MODERATE Improper Input Validation in Buildah and Podman
GHSA-wp7w-vx86-vj9h CVE-2018-10856 HIGH Podman Elevated Container Privileges
GHSA-rh5f-2w6r-q7vj CVE-2019-10152 HIGH Podman Path Traversal Vulnerability leads to arbitrary file read/write
GHSA-vmhj-p9hw-vgrf CVE-2020-1726 MODERATE Podman has Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties

CVE-2026-94603 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-94603
GHSA Identifier GHSA-2cvf-wqm6-wr9g
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 10.0
CWE Classification CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure
Affected Product Podman
Package Ecosystem Go
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 10.0

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Changed (S:C)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-94603

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Podman dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

github.com/containers/podman fixed: 5.8.8
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman to 5.8.8
go.podman.io/podman/v6 fixed: 6.1.3
Upgrade go.podman.io/podman/v6 to 6.1.3
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for github.com/containers/podman

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-94603, inspect your project dependencies for Podman:

inspect dependencies for github.com/containers/podman

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Podman in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 5.8.8), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure, where the product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product. In Podman, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact Podman v4.4.0 added a feature where container checkpoints (from the `podman container checkpoint` command) could be distributed via OCI registry, and pulled from that registry and run via the `podman run` command. This allowed easy transfer of checkpoints between systems. However, checkpoints allow complete control of how the container is created - including full control of the container sandbox. When `podman run` detects a checkpoint, it will silently ignore all user input regarding how the container should be created - for example, `podman run --cap-drop=ALL` on an image that is determined to be a checkpoint will ignore `--cap-drop=all` and use the set of capabilities specified by the checkpoint image instead, which could include all capabilities. Podman identifies checkpoint images by looking for an annotation, `io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name`. If this annotation is set, the image is treated as a checkpoint. Conflating container images and checkpoints in `podman run` allows inherently insecure behavior as the image can now control how it is executed. The Podman Maintainers have determined that the safest course of action is to remove this functionality. ### Patch The commit introducing this functionality was reverted. 3721ff82ffb44a4ceeaecc5abd3808e924a6b669 c74b1d37b3fb834b0de43e176565d9d8c254b627 fa6cef22c2baf3987b581c673bb416ef0585daf7 (main) ea9243e04d1db3886dc3a51ee3300ffb547cfc02 450c64426dbcff1097d3c7911d791101e3d16f4c 2d05a7c61f022d4f24980ea6d307fa53da2b8692 (v6.1) 7728ba0a90094408ad9078e36c3622a651d49616 24706290d5c974f078d8ca284026802515f28e92 29c8c6e50607df7a7d735ace09ff0ea099c0b3e0 (v5.8) ### Workarounds Images being pulled should be scanned for the `io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name` annotation, and rejected if it is present. Podman does not presently have the ability to perform this scanning and rejection automatically. Also not that rootless containers are not affected as they do not support checkpoint/restore at all currently. ### Credits This vulnerability was discovered by ADA Logics Ltd using Anthropic's Claude models.

CVE-2026-94603 Affected Podman Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
5.8.86.1.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
github.com/containers/podman
Go
≥ 4.4.0
< 5.8.8
5.8.8
go.podman.io/podman/v6
Go
≥ 6.0.0
< 6.1.3
6.1.3

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-94603?
CVE-2026-94603 is a security vulnerability in Podman involving The `podman run` command can be instructed to disable almost all sandboxing by image annotation under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure.
Which Podman versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 5.8.8, 6.1.3 across affected packages: github.com/containers/podman, go.podman.io/podman/v6.
What version fixes CVE-2026-94603?
Upgrading to 5.8.8, 6.1.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is github.com/containers/podman affected?
Yes, github.com/containers/podman is affected in releases prior to 5.8.8. Upgrade your dependency to 5.8.8 or later.
Is go.podman.io/podman/v6 affected?
Yes, go.podman.io/podman/v6 is affected in releases prior to 6.1.3. Upgrade your dependency to 6.1.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-94603?
CVE-2026-94603 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-94603?
CVE-2026-94603 is classified under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure (The product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.).
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2026-94603?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for github.com/containers/podman'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
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  "id" : "GHSA-2cvf-wqm6-wr9g",
  "modified" : "2026-10-15T20:22:16Z",
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  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-94603" ],
  "summary" : "Podman: The `podman run` command can be instructed to disable almost all sandboxing by image annotation",
  "details" : "### Impact\nPodman v4.4.0 added a feature where container checkpoints (from the `podman container checkpoint` command) could be distributed via OCI registry, and pulled from that registry and run via the `podman run` command. This allowed easy transfer of checkpoints between systems. However, checkpoints allow complete control of how the container is created - including full control of the container sandbox. When `podman run` detects a checkpoint, it will silently ignore all user input regarding how the container should be created - for example, `podman run --cap-drop=ALL` on an image that is determined to be a checkpoint will ignore `--cap-drop=all` and use the set of capabilities specified by the checkpoint image instead, which could include all capabilities. Podman identifies checkpoint images by looking for an annotation, `io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name`. If this annotation is set, the image is treated as a checkpoint. Conflating container images and checkpoints in `podman run` allows inherently insecure behavior as the image can now control how it is executed. The Podman Maintainers have determined that the safest course of action is to remove this functionality.\n\n### Patch\nThe commit introducing this functionality was reverted.\n\n3721ff82ffb44a4ceeaecc5abd3808e924a6b669 c74b1d37b3fb834b0de43e176565d9d8c254b627 fa6cef22c2baf3987b581c673bb416ef0585daf7 (main)\nea9243e04d1db3886dc3a51ee3300ffb547cfc02 450c64426dbcff1097d3c7911d791101e3d16f4c 2d05a7c61f022d4f24980ea6d307fa53da2b8692 (v6.1)\n7728ba0a90094408ad9078e36c3622a651d49616 24706290d5c974f078d8ca284026802515f28e92 29c8c6e50607df7a7d735ace09ff0ea099c0b3e0 (v5.8)\n\n### Workarounds\nImages being pulled should be scanned for the `io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name` annotation, and rejected if it is present. Podman does not presently have the ability to perform this scanning and rejection automatically.\n\nAlso not that rootless containers are not affected as they do not support checkpoint/restore at all currently.\n\n### Credits\nThis vulnerability was discovered by ADA Logics Ltd using Anthropic's Claude models.",
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}