GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv
MEDIUMGHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.2) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
operator-sdk: privilege escalation due to incorrect permissions of /etc/passwd
Blast Radius
github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdkReal-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
Early versions of Operator-SDK provided an insecure method to allow operator containers to run in environments that used a random UID. Operator-SDK before 0.15.2 provided a script, user_setup, which modifies the permissions of the /etc/passwd file to 664 during build time. Developers who used Operator-SDK before 0.15.2 to scaffold their operator may still be impacted by this if the insecure user_setup script is still being used to build new container images. In affected images, the /etc/passwd file was created during build time with group-writable permissions and a group ownership of root (gid=0). An attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, may be able to leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This could allow the attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, leading to full root privileges within the container.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk | all versions | 0.15.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk to 0.15.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjv across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.