---
id: CVE-2026-15809
title: A flaw was found in CRI-O
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in CRI-O. The fix for a previous vulnerability
  (CVE-2022-4318) was incorrect, allowing it to be bypassed. An attacker capable
  of setting environment variables on a container can inject a newline character
  into the HOME e…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-134
  - CWE-116
vendor: Red Hat
product: cri-o
affected:
  - cri-o (all versions)
  - cri-o (all versions)
  - cri-o (all versions)
  - cri-o (all versions)
  - cri-o (all versions)
  - openshift-sandboxed-containers/osc-monitor-rhel9 (all versions)
  - openshift4/cnf-tests-rhel8 (all versions)
  - openshift4/ztp-site-generate-rhel8 (all versions)
patched:
  - openshift_container_platform 4.16
  - openshift_container_platform 4.19
  - openshift_container_platform 4.20
  - openshift_container_platform 4.21
  - openshift_container_platform 4.22
published: '2026-07-15'
updated: '2026-09-24'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-24T14:17:11.690'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-15809'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57361'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60444'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60449'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60452'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:62548'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65838'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65906'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66385'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:67836'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-15809'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2500846'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/pull/6450'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/pull/6524'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-15809.json
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-15809'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-15809'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00176
epssPercentile: 0.07412
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-07-15T13:06:08.620102Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-10T09:45:12.032Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in CRI-O. The fix for a previous vulnerability (CVE-2022-4318) was incorrect, allowing it to be bypassed. An attacker capable of setting environment variables on a container can inject a newline character into the HOME environment variable. This issue allows the addition of arbitrary lines into /etc/passwd by use of a specially crafted environment variable.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **RHSA-2026:62548** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 · released 2026-09-10 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:62548)
- **RHSA-2026:60452** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 · released 2026-09-02 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60452)
- **RHSA-2026:60444** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 · released 2026-09-01 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60444)
- **RHSA-2026:60449** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.21 · released 2026-09-01 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60449)
- **RHSA-2026:57361** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.22 · released 2026-08-25 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:57361)
- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Confidential Compute Attestation, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4, Confidential Compute Attestation · updated 2026-09-17 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-15809.json)
- **RHSA-2026:65906** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 · released 2026-09-17 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65906)
- **RHSA-2026:65838** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 · released 2026-09-17 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65838)
- **RHSA-2026:66385** · Red Hat · fixed in: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18 · released 2026-09-17 · [advisory](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66385)