CVE-2023-25173 | containerd supplementary groups are not set up properly

Exp

containerd is an open source container runtime. A bug was found in containerd prior to versions 1.6.18 and 1.5.18 where supplementary groups are not set up properly inside a container. If an attacker has direct access to a container and manipulates their supplementary group access, they may be able to use supplementary group access to bypass primary group restrictions in some cases, potentially gaining access to sensitive information or gaining the ability to execute code in that container. Downstream applications that use the containerd client library may be affected as well. This bug has been fixed in containerd v1.6.18 and v.1.5.18. Users should update to these versions and recreate containers to resolve this issue. Users who rely on a downstream application that uses containerd's client library should check that application for a separate advisory and instructions. As a workaround, ensure that the `"USER $USERNAME"` Dockerfile instruction is not used. Instead, set the container entrypoint to a value similar to `ENTRYPOINT ["su", "-", "user"]` to allow `su` to properly set up supplementary groups.

Published: 2023-02-16 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-25173 is rated Exploit Available (51.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.54%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2023-25173

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-25173

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 0.02% 0.54% +0.52%
2 2025-11-21 0.09% 0.02% -0.07%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.09% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-25173

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.8 3.4 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-25173

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-25173

GHSA-hmfx-3pcx-653p · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — Supplementary groups are not set up properly in github.com/containerd/containerd

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-25173

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2023-25173: 1 source package rows (containerd); 38 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 31. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-25173
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-25173 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-2023-25173
gentoo high CVE-2023-25173: 1 GLSA(s) (202408-01), 1 atom(s) (app-containers/containerd); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-25173
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-25173
suse medium CVE-2023-25173 severity moderate: SUSE including 270 source package names (3.17.3-8.1:helm-3.13.1-150000.1.26.1, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 622 product×package rows across 296 product lines (Container suse/helm, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-Basic-On-Demand, … (296 product lines)): Fixed 475, Known Affected 147. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-25173/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-25173 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (containerd), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-25173

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-25173

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation containerd < 1.5.18 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.18 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-25173

URL Tags
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4wjj-jwc9-2x96 Not Applicable
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-fjm8-m7m6-2fjp Not Applicable
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-phjr-8j92-w5v7 Not Applicable
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/133f6bb6cd827ce35a5fb279c1ead12b9d21460a Patch
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.5.18 Release Notes
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.6.18 Release Notes
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/security/advisories/GHSA-hmfx-3pcx-653p Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/moby/moby/security/advisories/GHSA-rc4r-wh2q-q6c4 Not Applicable
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/LYZOKMMVX4SIEHPJW3SJUQGMO5YZCPHC/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/XNF4OLYZRQE75EB5TW5N42FSXHBXGWFE/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/ZTE4ITXXPIWZEQ4HYQCB6N6GZIMWXDAI/
https://www.benthamsgaze.org/2022/08/22/vulnerability-in-linux-containers-investigation-and-mitigation/ Exploit Third Party Advisory
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