CVE-2023-27561

Exp

runc through 1.1.4 has Incorrect Access Control leading to Escalation of Privileges, related to libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go. To exploit this, an attacker must be able to spawn two containers with custom volume-mount configurations, and be able to run custom images. NOTE: this issue exists because of a CVE-2019-19921 regression.

Published: 2023-03-03 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-27561 is rated Exploit Available (55.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.45%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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-2023-27561

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-27561

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 0.05% 0.45% +0.40%
2 2024-06-07 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2023-03-07 0.04%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-27561

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.0 5.9 [email protected]
7.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.0 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-27561

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-27561

GHSA-vpvm-3wq2-2wvm · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Opencontainers runc Incorrect Authorization vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-27561

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2023-27561: 1 source package rows (runc); 14 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 14, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-27561
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-27561 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (runc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-27561
gentoo normal CVE-2023-27561: 1 GLSA(s) (202408-25), 1 atom(s) (app-containers/runc); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-27561
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-27561
suse high CVE-2023-27561 severity important: SUSE including 257 source package names (1.2.3-2.2.63:runc-1.1.5-150000.41.1, 1.2.3-3.2.78:runc-1.1.5-150000.41.1, …), 560 product×package rows across 297 product lines (Container rancher/elemental-teal-iso/5.4, Container rancher/elemental-teal-rt/5.4, … (297 product lines)): Fixed 393, Known Affected 147, Known Not Affected 20. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-27561/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-27561 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (runc), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-27561

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-27561

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation runc < 1.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:runc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openshift_container_platform 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-27561

URL Tags
https://gist.github.com/LiveOverflow/c937820b688922eb127fb760ce06dab9 Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/issues/2197#issuecomment-1437617334 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/issues/3751 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/03/msg00023.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ANUGDBJ7NBUMSUFZUSKU3ZMQYZ2Z3STN/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DHGVGGMKGZSJ7YO67TGGPFEHBYMS63VF/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FNB2UEDIIJCRQW4WJLZOPQJZXCVSXMLD/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FYVE3GB4OG3BNT5DLQHYO4M5SXX33AQ5/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I6BF24VCZRFTYBTT3T7HDZUOTKOTNPLZ/
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241206-0004/
cvelogic Threat Intelligence