Red Hat Web Terminal Container Priv Esc via Group-Writable /etc/passwd
CVE-2025-57853 Published on April 8, 2026

Web-terminal: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions
A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain Web Terminal 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.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-57853 can be exploited 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 be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
HIGH
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Timeline

Reported to Red Hat.

Made public. 225 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-2025-57853

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Red Hat Webterminal
 

Affected Versions

Red Hat Web Terminal: