CVE-2023-0778

A Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) flaw was found in podman. This issue may allow a malicious user to replace a normal file in a volume with a symlink while exporting the volume, allowing for access to arbitrary files on the host file system.

Published: 2023-03-27 Last update: 2025-02-24 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-0778 is rated Moderate Risk (41.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.54%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-0778

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 0.16% 0.54% +0.38%
2 2026-04-27 0.12% 0.16% +0.04%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.12% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-0778

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.6 5.2 [email protected]
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.6 5.2 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-0778

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-0778

GHSA-qwqv-rqgf-8qh8 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — Podman Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-0778

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-0778: 1 source package rows (podman); 6 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-0778
debian unimportant CVE-2023-0778 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpod), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-0778
gentoo high CVE-2023-0778: 1 GLSA(s) (202407-12), 1 atom(s) (app-containers/podman); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-0778
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-0778
suse medium CVE-2023-0778 severity moderate: SUSE including 73 source package names (1.2.3-2.2.63:podman-4.4.4-150400.4.16.1, 1.2.3-3.2.78:podman-4.4.4-150400.4.16.1, …), 118 product×package rows across 33 product lines (Container rancher/elemental-teal-rt/5.4, Container rancher/elemental-teal/5.4, … (33 product lines)): Fixed 99, Known Not Affected 19. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-0778/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-0778 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libpod), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 6, DNE 4, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-0778

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-0778

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
podman_project podman — cpe:2.3:a:podman_project:podman:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-0778

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2168256 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence