CVE-2025-7195

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

No known exploitation. EPSS puts it in the 11th percentile. A vendor fix is available.

CVSS 3.16.4Medium EPSS percentile11th0.2% chance in 30 days CISA KEVNot listedNo confirmed exploitation
No public exploit known FixVendor fixNo build named by the sources

Published 2025-08-07Updated 2026-09-21Sources: CVE.org, NVD, GitHub

NVD CVE.org

What to do

The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.

Check it yourselfA free OpenVAS check exists for this CVE. Run it against your hosts.Is your organisation exposed?Request an assessment to establish which checks fit your systems.

What it is

From the CVE record

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.

In plain language

No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.

Exploitation

Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.

EPSS11th

CISA KEV

Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.

Public exploits

No public exploit or proof of concept found in the sources we track.

EPSS

0.2% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 11th percentile of scored CVEs.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.

Lifecycle

91 events over 410 days, from the signal feeds we watch.

2026-09-21Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
2026-09-08Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
2026-09-07Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
2026-09-06Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
2026-08-25Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
2026-08-24Patch availableworkaround available, record updated

Affected products

And 20 more affected products. See all after sign-in

Technical detail

CVSS 3.1 vector

Open in the CVSS calculator

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Scored 6.4 by NVD.

How it is reached

Attack Vector LocalRequires local access to the vulnerable system (e.g. local login, malicious file)
Attack Complexity HighRequires specific conditions like a race condition or non-default configuration
Privileges Required HighRequires admin or elevated privileges
User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation

Scope

Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself

Impact if exploited

Confidentiality HighTotal information disclosure — all data in the component is compromised
Integrity HighTotal loss of integrity — attacker can modify any data in the component
Availability HighTotal denial of service — the component is completely unavailable