GHSA-5j5w-g665-5m35 is a low-severity (CVSS 3) remote code execution vulnerability in github.com/containerd/containerd. A fix is available for github.com/containerd/containerd — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/containerd/containerd🐹github.com/containerd/containerdReal-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
In the OCI Distribution Specification version 1.0.0 and prior and in the OCI Image Specification version 1.0.1 and prior, manifest and index documents are ambiguous without an accompanying Content-Type HTTP header. Versions of containerd prior to 1.4.12 and 1.5.8 treat the Content-Type header as trusted and deserialize the document according to that header. If the Content-Type header changed between pulls of the same ambiguous document (with the same digest), the document may be interpreted differently, meaning that the digest alone is insufficient to unambiguously identify the content of the image.
Patches
This issue has been fixed in containerd 1.4.12 and 1.5.8. Image pulls for manifests that contain a “manifests” field or indices which contain a “layers” field are rejected.
Workarounds
Ensure you only pull images from trusted sources.
References
https://github.com/opencontainers/distribution-spec/security/advisories/GHSA-mc8v-mgrf-8f4m https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/security/advisories/GHSA-77vh-xpmg-72qh
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in containerd
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containerd/containerd | all versions | 1.4.12go get github.com/containerd/containerd@v1.4.12 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/containerd/containerd | ≥ 1.5.0&&< 1.5.8 | 1.5.8go get github.com/containerd/containerd@v1.5.8 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 1.4.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5j5w-g665-5m35 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-5j5w-g665-5m35 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.