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.
Advisories
Source ID Title
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2025-28020 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.
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-8f93-j3fx-72f3 CRI-O has Potential High Memory Consumption from File Read
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

As for now there's no available mitigation for this flaw.

History

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description No description is available for this CVE. 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.
Title cri-o: Large /etc/passwd file may lead to Denial of Service Cri-o: large /etc/passwd file may lead to denial of service
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat openshift
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat openshift
References

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description No description is available for this CVE.
Title cri-o: Large /etc/passwd file may lead to Denial of Service
Weaknesses CWE-770
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2025-09-25T02:45:42.640Z

Reserved: 2025-05-08T15:35:44.324Z

Link: CVE-2025-4437

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2025-08-20T15:15:41.508Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-08-20T13:15:28.673

Modified: 2025-08-20T14:39:07.860

Link: CVE-2025-4437

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2025-06-26T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2025-4437 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.