Denial of Service Vulnerability in Podman by Red Hat
CVE-2026-121885

6.5MEDIUM

Key Information:

Vendor

Red Hat
Status
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Red Hat Hardened Images
Vendor
CVE Published:
10 November 2026

What is CVE-2026-121885?

A vulnerability exists in Podman that allows an attacker to initiate a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by providing a container image with maliciously crafted metadata labels. Podman's auto-update feature misinterprets these labels to determine which system services to restart. When a user executes the compromised container, the auto-update may trigger a restart of arbitrary system services with the associated user's privileges, raising significant risks, particularly if Podman is run with administrative rights. This flaw can potentially lead to a compromised system, as it could allow an attacker to disable essential services or even shut down the host system.

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-121885
vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2566844
issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT

CVSS V3.1

Score:
6.5
Severity:
MEDIUM
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
None
Attack Vector:
Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Privileges Required:
None
User Interaction:
Required
Scope:
Unchanged

Timeline

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

Credit

Upstream acknowledges Adel Assakaf as the original reporter.
.