CVE-2026-94603 in Podman
Summary
by MITRE • 10/13/2026
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. From 4.4.0 until 5.8.8 and 6.1.3, podman run treats an image carrying the io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name annotation as a checkpoint and silently ignores user-supplied container creation restrictions such as --cap-drop=ALL, allowing image-controlled checkpoint state to select weaker sandbox settings and capabilities. Rootless containers are not affected because checkpoint and restore are unavailable in that mode. This issue is fixed in versions 5.8.8 and 6.1.3.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/13/2026
Podman serves as a prominent tool for managing OCI-compatible containers and pods, offering users the ability to create, run, and manage containerized applications without requiring root privileges by default. However, within specific version ranges from 4.4.0 through 5.8.8 and up to 6.1.3, a critical security flaw exists in how Podman handles image annotations related to checkpointing functionality. The vulnerability centers on the io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name annotation, which is intended to identify images that contain saved checkpoint states for restoration purposes. When an image carrying this specific annotation is used with the podman run command, the system incorrectly interprets the request as a restore operation rather than a standard container creation process. This misclassification leads to a silent failure in applying user-supplied security restrictions, such as --cap-drop=ALL or other capability limitations defined by the operator at runtime.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the conditional logic governing how Podman processes image metadata during startup. Instead of enforcing the explicitly provided command-line arguments for container configuration, the software prioritizes the sandbox settings and capabilities embedded within the checkpoint state stored in the image. This behavior effectively allows an attacker who controls or influences the content of a container image to override security policies set by the user launching the container. By embedding malicious configurations within the io.podman.annotations.checkpoint.runtime.name field, a compromised or maliciously crafted image can force the container runtime to operate with elevated privileges and broader capabilities than intended. This bypasses essential defense-in-depth measures that rely on restricting Linux capabilities at launch time, thereby weakening the isolation boundary between the container and the host system.
The operational impact of this flaw is significant for environments where users trust images from third-party sources or automated pipelines without rigorous verification of their internal annotations. An adversary could distribute a malicious image that appears legitimate but contains checkpoint data designed to restore the container with full root capabilities, even if the user explicitly requested a restricted environment using flags like --cap-drop=ALL. This undermines the principle of least privilege and can lead to container escape scenarios or lateral movement within a compromised host. It is important to note that this vulnerability does not affect rootless containers because the checkpoint and restore features are unavailable in that execution mode, limiting the attack surface primarily to privileged or rootful Podman deployments where full system access is granted to the runtime process.
This issue aligns with CWE-250, which describes Execution Without Required Privileges, as well as CWE-94, Improper Control of Generation of Code (Code Injection), insofar as image-controlled state dictates execution parameters. From an ATT&CK perspective, this vulnerability facilitates Initial Access and Defense Evasion techniques by allowing attackers to bypass security configurations through artifact manipulation rather than exploiting a traditional software bug like buffer overflow or injection. The recommended mitigation is straightforward: users must upgrade Podman to version 5.8.8 or later for the stable branch or version 6.1.3 and beyond, where this logic has been corrected to ensure that user-supplied restrictions are always enforced regardless of image annotations. Until an update can be applied, administrators should avoid using images with checkpoint-related annotations in privileged modes and rigorously audit container configurations before deployment.