GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574
CRITICALGHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-345 vulnerability in github.com/containerd/containerd/v2. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
containerd: CRI checkpoint import allows local image tag poisoning
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 GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574.
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
GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 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 0 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/containerd/containerd/v2🐹github.com/containerd/containerd/v2🐹github.com/containerd/containerd/v2Real-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
containerd's CRI checkpoint import process contains a vulnerability where it fails to validate the image references specified within a checkpoint image's configuration. An attacker with permissions to create pods can use a crafted checkpoint image to force containerd to pull a malicious image and assign it an arbitrary local tag, thereby poisoning the node's local image cache. Subsequently, if other pods on the same node attempt to use the poisoned tag with an IfNotPresent (or Never) pull policy, they will unknowingly execute the attacker's malicious image instead of the legitimate one. This can lead to a compromise of the affected pods, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code under the victim pod's identity.
Patches
This bug has been fixed in the following containerd versions:
- 2.3.2
- 2.2.5
- 2.1.9
Users should update to these versions to resolve the issue.
Workarounds
Users should only allow trusted images to be pulled.
Credits
The containerd project would like to thank Henry Beberman (@hbeberman) of Microsoft, the GKE Security Team using Gemini, Anthropic Research, in collaboration with Claude, and Robert Prast (@robertprast) who independently discovered and responsibly disclosed this issue in accordance with the containerd security policy.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in containerd
- Email us at [email protected]
To report a security issue in containerd:
- Report a new vulnerability
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.1.9 | 2.1.9 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 | ≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.5 | 2.2.5 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 | ≥ 2.3.0&&< 2.3.2 | 2.3.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/containerd/containerd/v2. 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/containerd/containerd/v2 to 2.1.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 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-cvxm-645q-p574 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-cvxm-645q-p574. 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.
Red Hat products include the containerd Go module (v1.x) as a library dependency. The vulnerable CRI checkpoint import functionality was introduced in containerd v2.1.0 and is not present in the v1 module shipped in Red Hat products. Additionally, Red Hat products use CRI-O as the container runtime, not containerd, so…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-cvxm-645q-p574 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.