6.4

CVE-2025-7195: Operator-sdk: privilege escalation due to incorrect permissions of /etc/passwd

Deferred
AliasesGHSA-856v-8qm2-9wjvGO-2025-3852
Published 07-08-2025Last modified 21-09-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-7195 is a medium (CVSS 6.4) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in operator-framework operator-sdk. EPSS estimates a 0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 15.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 6.4, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
6.4/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.24%
0%100%
Low · +0.02 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 2 · Related 2
OPENSUSE-SU-2025:15434-1SUSE-SU-2025:02912-1

Timeline

  1. 07-08-2025
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 21-09-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Early versions of Operator-SDK provided an insecure method to allow operator containers to run in environments that used a random UID. Operator-SDK before 0.15.2 provided a script, user_setup, which modifies the permissions of the /etc/passwd file to 664 during build time. Developers who used Operator-SDK before 0.15.2 to scaffold their operator may still be impacted by this if the insecure user_setup script is still being used to build new container images. In affected images, the /etc/passwd file is created during build time with group-writable permissions and a group ownership of root (gid=0). An attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, may be able to leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This could allow the attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, leading to full root privileges within the container.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.24%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

16%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Increase +0.02 pp

From 0.22% 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: local access, administrative account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Github.com/operator-framework1 product
  • operator-sdk< 0.15.2
Operator-framework1 product

2 vendors · 2 products

References

30 links
Show all 30 references