Vulnerabilities in pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman/v2

PACKAGE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-57231 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) malformed image can trick podman vulnerability (CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) affecting Podman libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves malformed image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.8.4, 6.0.0.

5 Known Advisory Record(s)
Package Vulnerability Intelligence

pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman/v2

5 Known Advisory Record(s)

Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:golang/github.com/containers/podman/v2. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.

Advisory ID CVE / NVD Severity Summary
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-c3wv-qmjj-45r6 CVE-2020-14370 MODERATE Information disclosure in podman
GHSA-vmhj-p9hw-vgrf CVE-2020-1726 MODERATE Podman has Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties

CVE-2026-57231 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-57231
GHSA Identifier GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Affected Product Podman
Package Ecosystem Go
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

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:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

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

How to Fix CVE-2026-57231

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/v5 fixed: 5.8.4
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman/v5 to 5.8.4
go.podman.io/podman/v6 fixed: 6.0.0
Upgrade go.podman.io/podman/v6 to 6.0.0
github.com/containers/podman/v4 fixed: Latest secure release
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman/v4 to Latest secure release
github.com/containers/podman/v3 fixed: Latest secure release
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman/v3 to Latest secure release
github.com/containers/podman/v2 fixed: Latest secure release
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman/v2 to Latest secure release
github.com/containers/podman fixed: Latest secure release
Upgrade github.com/containers/podman to Latest secure release
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/v5

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-57231, inspect your project dependencies for Podman:

inspect dependencies for github.com/containers/podman/v5

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 5.8.4), 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-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, where the product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. 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

## Summary An container image that contains a environment variable with just a key and no value can trick podman into passing that variable from the host into the container. This is made worse by the fact that using an asterisk (*) will cause podman to pass all host variables into the container. So essentially a malicious image can exfiltrate all podman environment variables that are set in the session from where the container is launched. ## Details podman run allows `--env VAR1` or `--env VAR*` which will read the variable values from the current environment and then passes them into the container. However because the same parsing logic was reused for the image config env section that means that an image variable could also gain access to that. ## Patch That image spec requires the env variables to be in the form of `key=value`, so to address this invalid formatted variables get rejected and the container will not run. Fixed in https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/commit/6c431b73dbf8e4b20b778644d7a80caebdb75050 ## Workaround Do not run untrusted images. Before running an image consider inspecting the config with `podman image inspect --format '{{.Config.Env}}' <image>` and check for any variables that do not have a value assigned.

CVE-2026-57231 Affected Podman Versions

6 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
5.8.46.0.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
github.com/containers/podman/v5
Go
< 5.8.4
5.8.4
go.podman.io/podman/v6
Go
< 6.0.0
6.0.0
github.com/containers/podman/v4
Go
≤ 4.9.5
github.com/containers/podman/v3
Go
≤ 3.4.7
github.com/containers/podman/v2
Go
≤ 2.2.1
github.com/containers/podman
Go
≥ 1.8.1

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-57231?
CVE-2026-57231 is a security vulnerability in Podman involving Malformed Image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor.
Which Podman versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 5.8.4, 6.0.0 across affected packages: github.com/containers/podman/v5, go.podman.io/podman/v6, github.com/containers/podman/v4, github.com/containers/podman/v3, github.com/containers/podman/v2, github.com/containers/podman.
What version fixes CVE-2026-57231?
Upgrading to 5.8.4, 6.0.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is github.com/containers/podman/v5 affected?
Yes, github.com/containers/podman/v5 is affected in releases prior to 5.8.4. Upgrade your dependency to 5.8.4 or later.
Is go.podman.io/podman/v6 affected?
Yes, go.podman.io/podman/v6 is affected in releases prior to 6.0.0. Upgrade your dependency to 6.0.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-57231?
CVE-2026-57231 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-57231?
CVE-2026-57231 is classified under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.).
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2026-57231?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for github.com/containers/podman/v5'. 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
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68",
  "modified" : "2026-09-24T19:40:20Z",
  "published" : "2026-09-24T19:40:20Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-57231" ],
  "summary" : "Podman: Malformed Image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container",
  "details" : "## Summary\n\nAn container image that contains a environment variable with just a key and no value can trick podman into passing that variable from the host into the container. This is made worse by the fact that using an asterisk (*) will cause podman to pass all host variables into the container. So essentially a malicious image can exfiltrate all podman environment variables that are set in the session from where the container is launched.\n\n## Details\n\npodman run allows `--env VAR1` or `--env VAR*` which will read the variable values from the current environment and then passes them into the container. However because the same parsing logic was reused for the image config env section that means that an image variable could also gain access to that.\n\n## Patch\n\nThat image spec requires the env variables to be in the form of `key=value`, so to address this invalid formatted variables get rejected and the container will not run.\n\nFixed in https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/commit/6c431b73dbf8e4b20b778644d7a80caebdb75050\n\n## Workaround\n\nDo not run untrusted images. Before running an image consider inspecting the config with `podman image inspect --format '{{.Config.Env}}' <image>` and check for any variables that do not have a value assigned.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/containers/podman/v5"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.8.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "go.podman.io/podman/v6"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "6.0.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/containers/podman/v4"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "4.9.5"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/containers/podman/v3"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "3.4.7"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/containers/podman/v2"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "2.2.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/containers/podman"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "1.8.1"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "< 5.8.4"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/security/advisories/GHSA-4hq8-gpf5-8p68"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-57231"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/commit/6c431b73dbf8e4b20b778644d7a80caebdb75050"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/releases/tag/v5.8.4"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/podman-container-tools/podman/releases/tag/v6.0.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-200" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-09-24T19:40:20Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-06-26T17:16:34Z"
  }
}