Medium severity · published Apr 8, 2026
CVE-2025-57853
Web-terminal: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions
6.4
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 5% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RH
Red Hat Web Terminal · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
WT
Web Terminal · Redhat
All versions, or not specified · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-57853
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-57853
Vendor Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-57853
Issue Tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2391106
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