CVE-2025-52881: Linuxfoundation Runc vulnerability (CVSS 7.5)

Description

runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification. In versions 1.2.7, 1.3.2 and 1.4.0-rc.2, an attacker can trick runc into misdirecting writes to /proc to other procfs files through the use of a racing container with shared mounts (we have also verified this attack is possible to exploit using a standard Dockerfile with docker buildx build as that also permits triggering parallel execution of containers with custom shared mounts configured). This redirect could be through symbolic links in a tmpfs or theoretically other methods such as regular bind-mounts. While similar, the mitigation applied for the related CVE, CVE-2019-19921, was fairly limited and effectively only caused runc to verify that when LSM labels are written they are actually procfs files. This issue is fixed in versions 1.2.8, 1.3.3, and 1.4.0-rc.3.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorLocal

Attack complexityHigh

Privileges requiredLow

User interactionRequired

ScopeChanged

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Linuxfoundation Runc≥ 1.3.0 < 1.3.3 · < 1.2.8 · 1.4.0

Remediation

Fixed in

Linuxfoundation Runc≥ 1.3.3

Patch & vendor advisories

References

and 10 more references

Related CVEs

Recent high-severity vulnerabilities sharing a weakness type.

Frequently asked

Is CVE-2025-52881 being actively exploited?

CVE-2025-52881 is not in the CISA KEV catalog. A public exploit reference exists, so treat it as exploitable. Its EPSS exploit probability is 0.57%.

How severe is CVE-2025-52881?

CVE-2025-52881 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated high. EPSS estimates a 0.57% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2025-52881?

Affected products include Linuxfoundation Runc.

How do I fix CVE-2025-52881?

Upgrade affected software to a fixed version, for example Linuxfoundation Runc 1.3.3 or later, then confirm no affected versions remain in your inventory.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-52881 against the real software inventory on every managed device, as each hourly inventory arrives. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

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