CVE-2023-0778 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) CWE-367 vulnerability in github.com/containers/podman/v4. A fix is available for github.com/containers/podman/v4 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Podman Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-2023-0778.
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/v4Real-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 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) flaw was found in podman. This issue may allow a malicious user to replace a normal file in a volume with a symlink while exporting the volume, allowing for access to arbitrary files on the host file system.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containers/podman/v4 | all versions | 4.4.2go get github.com/containers/podman/v4@v4.4.2 |
Affected Products
podmanpodman_projectenterprise linuxredhatDetection & 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/v4, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/containers/podman/v4 to 4.4.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-0778 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8080020230321153727.0f77c1b7 | RHSA-2023:2758 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:4.0-8080020230217080101.8108cfbc | RHSA-2023:2802 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 | podman-3:4.4.1-3.rhaos4.13.el8 | RHSA-2023:1325 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-0778 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.