Medium [CVE-2026-55686] Host filesystem modification via malicious container image WORKDIR symlink
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-55686 affecting Red Hat Hardened Images, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.
VulniPulse record published Record updated
Summary
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 3.0.0 until 5.7.1, running a malicious container image where the WORKDIR path contains a symlink can create a directory or modify ownership on the host filesystem.
Modified ownership is less likely to happen as that requires help from an untrusted/malicious process that mutates the host filesystem tree during dereferencing of the WORKDIR path, to trigger a race condition. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.7.1.
A flaw was found in Podman. This can lead to the creation of a directory or modification of ownership on the host filesystem, potentially impacting system integrity.
Exploitation requires the user to pull and run a specifically crafted malicious container image. Red Hat rates this as Moderate impact, consistent with the upstream assessment, because the attack requires a malicious image and the most severe outcome (ownership modification) requires additional help from an underprivileged user namespace.
Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N). Weakness: CWE-59.
Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Hardened Images; Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9; Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4; Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4; Red Hat Quay 3. Red Hat fixing advisory: RHSA-2026:29954.
Is CVE-2026-55686 exploited?
No exploitation is reported in the sources VulniPulse tracks: CVE-2026-55686 is not in the CISA KEV catalog (checked ) and this advisory does not report exploitation. That is not proof the vulnerability cannot be exploited.
How do I fix CVE-2026-55686?
Upgrade to a fixed release named by Red Hat:
- 5.7.1
- podman-main-6.0.0-1.hum1
- RHSA-2026:29954
Confirm against the vendor advisory before you patch.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative. Check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
- 5.7.1
- podman-main-6.0.0-1.hum1
- RHSA-2026:29954
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
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