How severe is CVE-2020-15157?

CVE-2020-15157 has a CVSS score of 6.1/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-15157?

CVE-2020-15157 affects the following packages: github.com/containerd/containerd (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15157?

Update github.com/containerd/containerd to 1.2.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15157 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-15157 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/containerd/containerd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-15157 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Is CVE-2020-15157 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-15157 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-15157?

CVE-2020-15157 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 2.3%, placing it in the 83th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-15157?

CVE-2020-15157 is classified as CWE-522 (CWE-522). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-15157 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-15157 was published on October 16, 2020 and was last updated on July 8, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2020-15157 — containerd

MEDIUMFix: containerd/containerd@1ead8d9

CVE-2020-15157 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) CWE-522 vulnerability in github.com/containerd/containerd. A fix is available for github.com/containerd/containerd — see the affected versions and patch details below.

containerd v1.2.x can be coerced into leaking credentials during image pull

Also known asGHSA-742w-89gc-8m9cGO-2022-0803

Published

Oct 16, 2020

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 11, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

2.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs83th percentile — riskier than 83% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-15157 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/containerd/containerd

Real-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

Impact

If a container image manifest in the OCI Image format or Docker Image V2 Schema 2 format includes a URL for the location of a specific image layer (otherwise known as a “foreign layer”), the default containerd resolver will follow that URL to attempt to download it. In v1.2.x but not 1.3.0 or later, the default containerd resolver will provide its authentication credentials if the server where the URL is located presents an HTTP 401 status code along with registry-specific HTTP headers.

If an attacker publishes a public image with a manifest that directs one of the layers to be fetched from a web server they control and they trick a user or system into pulling the image, they can obtain the credentials used for pulling that image. In some cases, this may be the user's username and password for the registry. In other cases, this may be the credentials attached to the cloud virtual instance which can grant access to other cloud resources in the account.

The default containerd resolver is used by the cri-containerd plugin (which can be used by Kubernetes), the ctr development tool, and other client programs that have explicitly linked against it.

This vulnerability has been rated by the containerd maintainers as medium, with a CVSS score of 6.1 and a vector string of CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N.

Patches

This vulnerability has been fixed in containerd 1.2.14. containerd 1.3 and later are not affected.

Workarounds

If you are using containerd 1.3 or later, you are not affected. If you are using cri-containerd in the 1.2 series or prior, you should ensure you only pull images from trusted sources. Other container runtimes built on top of containerd but not using the default resolver (such as Docker) are not affected.

Credits

The containerd maintainers would like to thank Brad Geesaman, Josh Larsen, Ian Coldwater, Duffie Cooley, and Rory McCune for responsibly disclosing this issue in accordance with the containerd security policy.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/containerd/containerd`	all versions	1.2.14`go get github.com/containerd/containerd@v1.2.14`

Affected Products

3 products · 13 configurations

ubuntu linuxcanonical

3 versions

16.0418.0420.04

debian linuxdebian

1 version

10.0

Application

containerdlinuxfoundation

≥ 1.2.0 && < 1.2.14

1 version

1.3.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/containerd/containerd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/containerd/containerd to 1.2.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15157 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

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.

Red HatModerate

In OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) the ose-cluster-autoscaler container ships vulnerable version of the containerd package, but only containerd api is used by the container. The vulnerable code is not delivered, hence marked as wontfix.

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.7	`openshift-0:4.7.0-202102060108.p0.git.97095.7271b90.el7`	RHSA-2020:5634

Frequently Asked Questions

## Impact If a container image manifest in the OCI Image format or Docker Image V2 Schema 2 format includes a URL for the location of a specific image layer (otherwise known as a “foreign layer”), the default containerd resolver will follow that URL to attempt to download it. In v1.2.x but not 1.3.0 or later, the default containerd resolver will provide its authentication credentials if the server where the URL is located presents an HTTP 401 status code along with registry-specific HTTP headers. If an attacker publishes a public image with a manifest that directs one of the layers to be fet