CVE-2022-29162 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in github.com/opencontainers/runc. A fix is available for github.com/opencontainers/runc — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Incorrect Default Permissions in runc
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-29162.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-29162 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/opencontainers/runcReal-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
runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers on Linux according to the OCI specification. A bug was found in runc prior to version 1.1.2 where runc exec --cap created processes with non-empty inheritable Linux process capabilities, creating an atypical Linux environment and enabling programs with inheritable file capabilities to elevate those capabilities to the permitted set during execve(2). This bug did not affect the container security sandbox as the inheritable set never contained more capabilities than were included in the container's bounding set. This bug has been fixed in runc 1.1.2. This fix changes runc exec --cap behavior such that the additional capabilities granted to the process being executed (as specified via --cap arguments) do not include inheritable capabilities. In addition, runc spec is changed to not set any inheritable capabilities in the created example OCI spec (config.json) file.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/opencontainers/runc | all versions | 1.1.2go get github.com/opencontainers/runc@v1.1.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/opencontainers/runc, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/opencontainers/runc to 1.1.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-29162 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-29162 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-29162. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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 is rated as low severity as the vulnerability can only result in atypical linux environment,and it's complex exploitation only results in minimal impact on system confidentiality, integrity, and availability in typical environments.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8070020220929222448.39077419 | RHSA-2022:7457 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:4.0-8070020220830101436.39077419 | RHSA-2022:7469 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | runc-4:1.1.4-1.el9 | RHSA-2022:8090 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.11 | runc-3:1.1.2-1.rhaos4.11.el8 | RHSA-2022:5068 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-29162 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-29162 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.