CVE-2024-25621 [High] | Privilege Escalation in Containerd

containerd is an open-source container runtime. Versions 0.1.0 through 1.7.28, 2.0.0-beta.0 through 2.0.6, 2.1.0-beta.0 through 2.1.4 and 2.2.0-beta.0 through 2.2.0-rc.1 have an overly broad default permission vulnerability. Directory paths `/var/lib/containerd`, `/run/containerd/io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri` and `/run/containerd/io.containerd.sandbox.controller.v1.shim` were all created with incorrect permissions. This issue is fixed in versions 1.7.29, 2.0.7, 2.1.5 and 2.2.0. Workarounds include updating system administrator permissions so the host can manually chmod the directories to not have group or world accessible permissions, or to run containerd in rootless mode.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.00%	0.14%	+0.14%
2	2025-11-07	—	0.00%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.00%

0.14%

+0.14%

2025-11-07

—

0.00%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.3	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. 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.	1.3	5.9	[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]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.3

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.

1.3

5.9

[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]

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-25621

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2024-25621: 1 source package rows (containerd); 66 state rows across 3 repos (3.22-community, 3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 66.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-25621
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2024-25621 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-2024-25621
`redhat`	high	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-25621
`suse`	high	CVE-2024-25621 severity important: SUSE including 246 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 521 product×package rows across 219 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/toolbox, Image SL-Micro-Azure, … (219 product lines)): Fixed 290, Known Affected 231.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-25621/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2024-25621 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (containerd, containerd-app), 14 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, upstream, xenial): released 10, ignored 2, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-25621

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-25621

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linuxfoundation	containerd	< 1.7.29	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd::::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	>= 2.0.0, < 2.0.7	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd::::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	>= 2.1.0, < 2.1.5	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd::::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	2.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:2.2.0:beta0::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	2.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:2.2.0:beta1::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	2.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:2.2.0:beta2::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	2.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:2.2.0:rc0::::::
linuxfoundation	containerd	2.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:2.2.0:rc1::::::

References for CVE-2024-25621

URL	Tags
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/rootless.md	Product
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/commit/7c59e8e9e970d38061a77b586b23655c352bfec5	Patch
https://github.com/containerd/containerd/security/advisories/GHSA-pwhc-rpq9-4c8w	Patch Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2024-25621 | containerd affected by a local privilege escalation via wide permissions on CRI directory

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-25621

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-25621

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-25621

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-25621

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-25621

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-25621

References for CVE-2024-25621