File Overwrite Vulnerability in Podman by Red Hat

CVE-2025-9566

What is CVE-2025-9566?

CVE-2025-9566 is a file overwrite vulnerability identified in Podman, a container management tool developed by Red Hat. Podman is designed to manage and run OCI containers, providing a platform for developers to build, test, and deploy applications in isolated environments. The vulnerability arises when an attacker utilizes the kube play command, which allows for specific configuration and deployment actions within Kubernetes. When the kube file container possesses a Secret or ConfigMap volume mount that includes a symbolic link to a file on the host system, it can lead to an unsafe manipulation of host files. While the attacker can control which file is overwritten, they cannot dictate the contents that will be written into the file. This limitation, however, still poses a significant risk, as it enables malicious actors to disrupt the normal operations of affected systems.

Potential impact of CVE-2025-9566

1. Data Integrity Compromise: The ability to overwrite host files means that critical configuration files or data can be corrupted, leading to operational failures, data loss, or inconsistencies within applications relying on these files.

2. Service Disruption: By targeting essential system files, attackers can cause denial of service conditions, disrupting services, applications, or system functionalities that depend on the integrity of those files, potentially leading to downtime for organizations.

3. Limited Control for Attackers: While attackers cannot specify the content written into the overwritten files, the unpredictability of the changes can still be leveraged for further exploitations, creating indirect pathways for access, further compromising host systems, or obscuring detection methods by altering expected system behavior.

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