CVE-2022-23648 | Insecure handling of image volumes in containerd CRI plugin

Exp

containerd is a container runtime available as a daemon for Linux and Windows. A bug was found in containerd prior to versions 1.6.1, 1.5.10, and 1.14.12 where containers launched through containerd’s CRI implementation on Linux with a specially-crafted image configuration could gain access to read-only copies of arbitrary files and directories on the host. This may bypass any policy-based enforcement on container setup (including a Kubernetes Pod Security Policy) and expose potentially sensitive information. Kubernetes and crictl can both be configured to use containerd’s CRI implementation. This bug has been fixed in containerd 1.6.1, 1.5.10, and 1.4.12. Users should update to these versions to resolve the issue.

Published: 2022-03-03 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-23648 is rated High Exploit Risk (84.2/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 27.39%, 98th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +21.35% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2022-23648

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-23648

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 6.05% 27.39% +21.35%
2 2026-05-26 5.85% 6.05% +0.20%
3 2026-04-19 — 5.85% —

Full EPSS history (48 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-23648

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-23648

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-23648

GHSA-crp2-qrr5-8pq7 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — containerd CRI plugin: Insecure handling of image volumes

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-23648

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2022-23648: 1 source package rows (containerd); 29 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 22. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-23648
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-23648 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (containerd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-23648
gentoo normal CVE-2022-23648: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-31), 1 atom(s) (app-containers/containerd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-23648
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-23648
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-23648/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-23648 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (containerd), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, upstream, xenial): released 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-23648

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-23648

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation containerd < 1.4.13 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 1.5.0, < 1.5.10 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-23648

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166421/containerd-Image-Volume-Insecure-Handling.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/10f428dac7cec44c864e1b830a4623af27a9fc70 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.4.13 Patch Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.5.10 Patch Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.6.1 Patch Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/security/advisories/GHSA-crp2-qrr5-8pq7 Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/AUDQUQBZJGBWJPMRVB6QCCCRF7O3O4PA/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HFTS2EF3S7HNYSNZSEJZIJHPRU7OPUV3/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OCCARJ6FU4MWBTXHZNMS7NELPDBIX2VO/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-31
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5091 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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