Environment Variable Injection Flaw in CRI-O by Red Hat
CVE-2026-15809

7.8HIGH

Key Information:

Vendor: Red Hat
Status: Red Hat Openshift Container Platform 4.12; Red Hat Openshift Container Platform 4.13; Red Hat Openshift Container Platform 4.16; Red Hat Openshift Container Platform 4.18
Vendor: CVE Published:; 15 July 2026

What is CVE-2026-15809?

A significant vulnerability exists in CRI-O, stemming from an inadequate fix for a previous flaw. This issue permits an attacker who can influence container environment variables to inject newline characters into the HOME variable. Consequently, malicious actors could manipulate the /etc/passwd file by introducing arbitrary entries, posing a severe risk to system integrity and security. This vulnerability highlights the importance of robust validation procedures in container environments.