CVE-2025-9566 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Path Traversal vulnerability in github.com/containers/podman/v5. A fix is available for github.com/containers/podman/v5 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Podman: podman kube play command may overwrite host files
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-2025-9566.
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-2025-9566 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 377,636 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/containers/podman/v5🐹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
There's a vulnerability in podman where an attacker may use the kube play command to overwrite host files when the kube file container a Secrete or a ConfigMap volume mount and such volume contains a symbolic link to a host file path. In a successful attack, the attacker can only control the target file to be overwritten but not the content to be written into the file.
Binary-Affected: podman Upstream-version-introduced: v4.0.0 Upstream-version-fixed: v5.6.1
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containers/podman/v5 | all versions | 5.6.1go get github.com/containers/podman/v5@v5.6.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/containers/podman/v4 | all versions | No fix |
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/v5, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/containers/podman/v5 to 5.6.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-9566 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-2025-9566 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-9566. 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.
The Red Hat Product Security team has evaluated this vulnerability as having the Important severity. This happens because of the consequences of an successful attack and the low complexity (AC:L) on exploiting this vulnerability. Although the attacker cannot control the content written to the target file, depending on…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | podman-6:5.4.0-13.el10_0 | RHSA-2025:15901 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | podman-7:5.6.0-5.el10_1 | RHSA-2025:20983 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | podman-7:5.8.0-2.el10 | RHSA-2026:18289 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8100020250911075811.afee755d | RHSA-2025:15904 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support | container-tools:rhel8-8060020250919150821.3b538bd8 | RHSA-2025:16482 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service | container-tools:rhel8-8080020250919060528.0f77c1b7 | RHSA-2025:16515 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | podman-5:5.4.0-13.el9_6 | RHSA-2025:15900 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | podman-6:5.6.0-6.el9_7 | RHSA-2025:20909 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-9566 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-9566 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.