5.7

CVE-2025-4437: Cri-o: large /etc/passwd file may lead to denial of service

Deferred
AliasesGHSA-8f93-j3fx-72f3GO-2025-3897
Published 20-08-2025Last modified 01-09-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-4437 is a medium (CVSS 5.7) vulnerability in cri-o Go. EPSS estimates a 0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16.1% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 5.7, network access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
5.7/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.25%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 20-08-2025
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 01-09-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

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.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.25%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

16%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.25% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: network-reachable, low-privilege account, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Github.com/cri-o1 product
  • cri-o≤ 1.33.3 | All versions (No fix recorded)

1 vendor · 1 product

References

6 links