CVE-2021-20199 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-346 vulnerability in github.com/containers/podman/v3. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/containers/podman/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Podman Origin Validation Error
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/podman/v3Real-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
Rootless containers run with Podman, receive all traffic with a source IP address of 127.0.0.1 (including from remote hosts). This impacts containerized applications that trust localhost (127.0.01) connections by default and do not require authentication. This issue affects Podman versions from 1.8.0 to 3.0.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containers/podman/v3 | all versions | 3.0.0go get github.com/containers/podman/v3@v3.0.0 |
Affected Products
podmanpodman_projectResearch 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/podman/v3, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/containers/podman/v3 to 3.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-20199 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.
This issue does not affect Podman prior to version 1.8.0. Podman shipped in the following products are therefore not affected: * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Container Tools stream 1.0 * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Container Tools stream 2.0 * OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 *…
Configure containerized applications to require authentication for connections from all sources, including localhost.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2021-20199 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8040020210407081426.59631bd5 | RHSA-2021:1796 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | podman-2:4.2.0-3.el9 | RHSA-2022:7954 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-20199 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.