CVE-2025-57851

MEDIUM

Mce: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

Description

A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain Multicluster Engine for Kubernetes 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.

References (2)

Core 2
Core References
Vdb Entry, X_Refsource_Redhat vdb-entry x_refsource_redhat
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-57851
Issue Tracking, X_Refsource_Redhat issue-tracking x_refsource_redhat
RHBZ#2391104
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2391104

Scores

CVSS v3 6.4
EPSS 0.0011
EPSS Percentile 1.7%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-276
Status published
Products (2)
Red Hat/Multicluster Engine for Kubernetes
redhat/advanced_cluster_management_for_kubernetes
Published Apr 08, 2026
Tracked Since Apr 08, 2026