CVE-2025-4437Published

Cri-o: large /etc/passwd file may lead to denial of service

Exact source revision recorded 23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC. It does not establish the source's current position. Latest evidence.

Recorded JSON

cve-program · CVE-2025-4437

Published

There's a vulnerability in the CRI-O application where when container is launched with securityContext.runAsUser specifying a non-existent user, CRI-O attempts to create the user, reading the container's entire /etc/passwd file into memory. If this file is excessively large, it can cause the a high memory consumption leading applications to be killed due to out-of-memory. As a result a denial-of-service can be achieved, possibly disrupting other pods and services running in the same host.

Source published: 20 Aug 2025 12:19:18 UTC
Source modified: 1 Sep 2026 11:51:10 UTC
Observed here: 23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC
Source terms: CVE Program Terms of Use

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CVSS 3.1 · 5.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H