CVE-2025-4437 | Cri-o: large /etc/passwd file may lead to denial of service

There's a vulnerability in the CRI-O application where when container is launched with securityContext.runAsUser specifying a non-existent user, CRI-O attempts to create the user, reading the container's entire /etc/passwd file into memory. If this file is excessively large, it can cause the a high memory consumption leading applications to be killed due to out-of-memory. As a result a denial-of-service can be achieved, possibly disrupting other pods and services running in the same host.

Published: 2025-08-20 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Deferred，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-4437 is rated Low Risk (29/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2025-4437

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 2026-05-06 0.03% 0.06% +0.02%
2 2025-08-21 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-4437

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.1 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-4437

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-4437

GHSA-8f93-j3fx-72f3 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — CRI-O has Potential High Memory Consumption from File Read

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-4437

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-4437

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-4437

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-4437

cvelogic Threat Intelligence