CVE-2026-57231: CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in podman-container-tools podman
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 1.8.1 until 5.8.4, a 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. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
Podman, a tool for managing OCI containers, has a vulnerability (CVE-2026-57231) affecting versions >=1.8.1 and <5.8.4. A container image that specifies an environment variable with a key but no value can trick podman into passing host environment variables into the container. If the variable key is '*', podman passes all host environment variables into the container, leading to exposure of sensitive information from the host environment. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information) and CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere). The vulnerability is fixed in podman versions 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.
Potential Impact
An attacker controlling a container image can cause podman to leak environment variables from the host session into the container. This can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information present in the host environment variables. The vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability but has a high confidentiality impact.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade podman to version 5.8.4 or later, as these versions contain the fix for this vulnerability. There is no indication of alternative mitigations or temporary workarounds. Patch status is confirmed fixed starting at 5.8.4.
CVE-2026-57231: CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in podman-container-tools podman
Description
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 1.8.1 until 5.8.4, a 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. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.5high
Affected software
pkg:github/podman-container-tools/podmanRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
Podman, a tool for managing OCI containers, has a vulnerability (CVE-2026-57231) affecting versions >=1.8.1 and <5.8.4. A container image that specifies an environment variable with a key but no value can trick podman into passing host environment variables into the container. If the variable key is '*', podman passes all host environment variables into the container, leading to exposure of sensitive information from the host environment. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information) and CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere). The vulnerability is fixed in podman versions 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.
Potential Impact
An attacker controlling a container image can cause podman to leak environment variables from the host session into the container. This can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information present in the host environment variables. The vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability but has a high confidentiality impact.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade podman to version 5.8.4 or later, as these versions contain the fix for this vulnerability. There is no indication of alternative mitigations or temporary workarounds. Patch status is confirmed fixed starting at 5.8.4.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- GitHub_M
- Date Reserved
- 2026-06-24T02:21:33.811Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 6a3eae476e08203f7dc7e0d8
Added to database: 06/26/2026, 16:52:23 UTC
Last enriched: 06/26/2026, 17:06:45 UTC
Last updated: 06/27/2026, 05:51:13 UTC
Views: 21
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