Containerd
CVE-2021-41103
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Path canonicalization, traversal prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Discovery, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with access to the system could access files and directories outside the intended path. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
containerd is an open source container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Path Traversal vulnerability could allow attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate and canonicalize file paths. Use chroot or sandboxing. Reject input containing path separators or '../' sequences.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), which allows attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path. containerd is an open source container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability. A bug was found in containerd where container root directories and some plugins had insufficiently restricted permissions, allowing otherwise unprivileged Linux users to traverse directory contents and execute programs. When containers included executable programs with extended permission bits (such as setuid), unprivileged Linux users could discover and execute those programs. When the UID of an unprivileged Linux user on the host collided with the file owner or group inside a container, the unprivileged Linux user on the host could discover, read, and modify those files. This vulnerability has been fixed in containerd 1.4.11 and containerd 1.5.7. Users should update to these version when they are released and may restart containers or update directory permissions to mitigate the vulnerability. Users unable to update should limit access to the host to trusted users. Update directory permission on container bundles directories. Affected products include: Linuxfoundation Containerd, Fedoraproject Fedora, Debian Debian Linux.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
containerd is an open source container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability. A bug was found in containerd where container root directories and some plugins had insufficiently restricted permissions, allowing otherwise unprivileged Linux users to traverse directory contents and execute programs. When containers included executable programs with extended permission bits (such as setuid), unprivileged Linux users could discover and execute those programs. When the UID of an unprivileged Linux user on the host collided with the file owner or group inside a container, the unprivileged Linux user on the host could discover, read, and modify those files. This vulnerability has been fixed in containerd 1.4.11 and containerd 1.5.7. Users should update to these version when they are released and may restart containers or update directory permissions to mitigate the vulnerability. Users unable to update should limit access to the host to trusted users. Update directory permission on container bundles directories.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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