GHSA-gp4j-w3vj-7299 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.4) CWE-362 vulnerability in github.com/opencontainers/runc. A fix is available for github.com/opencontainers/runc — see the affected versions and patch details below.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-gp4j-w3vj-7299 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/opencontainers/runcReal-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
RunC allowed additional container processes via 'runc exec' to be ptraced by the pid 1 of the container. This allows the main processes of the container, if running as root, to gain access to file-descriptors of these new processes during the initialization and can lead to container escapes or modification of runC state before the process is fully placed inside the container.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/opencontainers/runc | all versions | 1.0.0-rc3go get github.com/opencontainers/runc@v1.0.0-rc3 |
Affected Products
dockerdockerDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/opencontainers/runc, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/opencontainers/runc to 1.0.0-rc3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-gp4j-w3vj-7299 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.
On Red Hat systems with SELinux enabled, the dangers of even privileged containers are mitigated. SELinux prevents container processes from accessing host content even if those container processes manage to gain access to the actual file descriptors.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-gp4j-w3vj-7299 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras | docker-2:1.12.5-14.el7 | RHSA-2017:0116 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras | docker-latest-0:1.12.5-14.el7 | RHSA-2017:0123 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras | runc-0:1.0.0-1.rc2.el7 | RHSA-2017:0127 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-gp4j-w3vj-7299 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.