CVE-2020-10696 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in github.com/containers/buildah. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/containers/buildah — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Path Traversal in Buildah
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
github.com/containers/buildahReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A path traversal flaw was found in Buildah in versions before 1.14.5. This flaw allows an attacker to trick a user into building a malicious container image hosted on an HTTP(s) server and then write files to the user's system anywhere that the user has permissions.
Specific Go Packages Affected
github.com/containers/buildah/imagebuildah
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containers/buildah | all versions | 1.14.4go get github.com/containers/buildah@v1.14.4 |
Affected Products
buildahbuildah_projectenterprise linuxredhatopenshift container platformredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/containers/buildah, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/containers/buildah to 1.14.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-10696 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
While OpenShift Container Platform does include the vulnerable buildah code, it doesn't make use of the vulnerable function. Podman is also included in OpenShift Container Platform, but it isn't used to perform a build, so it has been given a low impact rating. OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 now used podman from…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras | buildah-0:1.11.6-11.el7_8 | RHSA-2020:2116 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras | podman-0:1.6.4-18.el7_8 | RHSA-2020:2117 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:1.0-8020020200420104655.28c38760 | RHSA-2020:1926 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:2.0-8020020200420175838.28c38760 | RHSA-2020:1931 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8020020200420180128.28c38760 | RHSA-2020:1932 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.1 | podman-0:1.0.2-4.dev.git96ccc2e.rhaos4.1.el8 | RHSA-2020:1449 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.2 | podman-0:1.4.2-6.rhaos4.2.el8 | RHSA-2020:1401 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 | podman-0:1.6.4-10.rhaos4.3.el8 | RHSA-2020:1396 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-10696 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.