GHSA-phhq-63jg-fp7r
LOWContrast vulnerability allows arbitrary host data Injection into container VOLUME mount points
Blast Radius
github.com/edgelesssys/contrastReal-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
Background
The VOLUME directive in Dockerfiles, or the config.volumes field in OCI image descriptors, indicates filesystem paths "where the process is likely to write data". While these paths have special semantics in Docker, they are only hints in the OCI spec and are not treated specially by Kubernetes. However, containered implements the specified conversion logic and adds a mount point if there is none set by Kubernetes.
Unfortunately, the specification leaves it open whether the mount point is populated with any and what data, so the runtime needs to be able to push arbitrary data to the Kata agent. However, this is almost always not what the user wants:
- A declared
VOLUMElocation is usually important to the app's core functionality, which is usually at odds with the data in that location being untrusted. VOLUMEdeclarations are often used by image vendors to indicate "mount your persistence here" to the user. They are rarely useful without a real volume mounted there.
Impact
All of the following need to be true to be affected by this vulnerability:
- A bare metal Contrast deployment (AKS is not affected).
- An image with at least one VOLUME directive.
- No Kubernetes mount at the path of the VOLUME.
If these are all true, the host is able to write arbitrary trees below that mount point.
Patches
Patched in v1.9.1 by disallowing this configuration in contrast generate.
Workarounds
Explicitly mount an emptyDir to all VOLUME locations. If the initial data in these locations is needed by the application, the image needs to be modified to remove the config.volumes entries.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/edgelesssys/contrast | all versions | 1.9.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/edgelesssys/contrast. 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/edgelesssys/contrast to 1.9.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-phhq-63jg-fp7r 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-phhq-63jg-fp7r 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-phhq-63jg-fp7r. 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-phhq-63jg-fp7r in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-phhq-63jg-fp7r across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.