CVE-2026-57231 | Podman: Malformed Image can trick podman run into leaking host environment variables into the container

Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 1.8.1 until 5.8.4, a container image that contains a environment variable with just a key and no value can trick podman into passing that variable from the host into the container. This is made worse by the fact that using an asterisk (*) will cause podman to pass all host variables into the container. So essentially a malicious image can exfiltrate all podman environment variables that are set in the session from where the container is launched. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.8.4 and 6.0.0.

Published: 2026-06-26 Last update: 2026-07-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-57231 is rated Low Risk (36.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.26%). 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-2026-57231

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 2026-06-27 — 0.26% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-57231

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-57231

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-57231

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-57231 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (podman), 3 status rows across 3 suites (forky, sid, trixie): open 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-57231
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-57231/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-57231 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (podman), 5 status rows across 5 suites (jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream): needs-triage 3, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-57231

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-57231

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
podman_project podman >= 1.8.1, < 5.8.4 cpe:2.3:a:podman_project:podman:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
podman_project podman 6.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:podman_project:podman:6.0.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-57231

cvelogic Threat Intelligence