KServe ModelMesh Privilege Escalation via /etc/passwd
CVE-2025-57852 Published on September 30, 2025
Openshift-ai: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions
A container privilege escalation flaw was found in KServe ModelMesh container images. This issue stems from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during build time. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, can 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.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2025-57852 is exploitable with local system access, and requires user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality, a high impact on integrity, and a small impact on availability.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public. 35 days later.
Weakness Type
Incorrect Default Permissions
During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.
Products Associated with CVE-2025-57852
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Affected Versions
Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.16:- Version sha256:97e2bd9b587f08e135a9aeb9b3e0dc6eafa1a9bdacbb5ecb681ce9bd5aa37fc9 and below * is unaffected.
- Version sha256:53ac36baa374159b9065c718a9ede821bbb61d9ebe9502b2243e0a9f7aca0d16 and below * is unaffected.
- Version sha256:687c8eeed55f021ecaab1307f0e88b5b16d91f72d63b3d7168d7bbee90e8947b and below * is unaffected.
- Version sha256:1709fa3c79aad4ba7eb9be8299949396092c8e20210124e0c0936385bc04e839 and below * is unaffected.
- Version sha256:92629b1462ca2ed121dd2f3069a005d78e00e1344d330d6a8710f53ec58b74b8 and below * is unaffected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.