CVE-2023-25173Public exploit

Container privilege bypass via omitted supplementary group

Published Feb 16, 2023 · Updated Mar 10, 2025

Privilege management flaw in containerd before 1.5.18 and 1.6.0 through 1.6.17 allows local users to bypass group restrictions. OCI user-spec helpers and CRI container creation omit the primary GID from the supplementary group list when applying a configured container user. Code execution inside a Linux container, negative group permissions, and a usable setgid program are required, enabling access or execution that the primary group should deny.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.54%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege management flaw in containerd before 1.5.18 and 1.6.0 through 1.6.17 allows local users to bypass group restrictions. OCI user-spec helpers and CRI container creation omit the primary GID from the supplementary group list when applying a configured container user. Code execution inside a Linux container, negative group permissions, and a usable setgid program are required, enabling access or execution that the primary group should deny.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-25173
Published
Feb 16, 2023
Updated
Mar 10, 2025
Vendor
containerd
Product
containerd
Classifications
CWE-269, CWE-863, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 16, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 1.5.18
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.18

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

containerd · containerdversion=< 1.5.18; version=>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.18

Published CVSS scores

5.3GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
CWE-863Incorrect Authorization
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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