Description
Podman is a tool for managing OCI containers and pods. Versions 4.8.0 through 5.8.1 contain a command injection vulnerability in the HyperV machine backend in pkg/machine/hyperv/stubber.go, where the VM image path is inserted into a PowerShell double-quoted string without sanitization, allowing $() subexpression injection. Because PowerShell evaluates subexpressions inside double-quoted strings before executing the outer command, an attacker who can control the VM image path through a crafted machine name or image directory can execute arbitrary PowerShell commands with the privileges of the Podman process. On typical Windows installations this means SYSTEM-level code execution, and only Windows is affected as the code is exclusive to the HyperV backend. This issue has been patched in version 5.8.2.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| containers | podman | >= 4.8.0, < 5.8.2 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | podman | 5.8.2+ds1-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | podman | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | podman | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | podman | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | podman | No fix yet | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images 1 | podman +5 | 5.8.2-1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:8211 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | podman | 5.8.2-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:10706-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | podman | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | falco-no-driver | 0.44.0-r0 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/containers/podman | all versions | — | GO-2026-5421 |
| Go | github.com/containers/podman/v2 | all versions | — | GO-2026-5421 |
| Go | github.com/containers/podman/v3 | all versions | — | GO-2026-5421 |
| Go | github.com/containers/podman/v4 | >= 4.8.0, <= 4.9.5 | — | GHSA-hc8w-h2mf-hp59 |
| Go | github.com/containers/podman/v4 | >= 4.8.0 | — | GO-2026-5421 |
| Go | github.com/containers/podman/v5 | < 5.8.2 | 5.8.2 | GHSA-hc8w-h2mf-hp59 |
Advisories 4
- RHSA-2026:8211 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Oct 10, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jul 31, 2026
- WID-SEC-2026-1115 Podman HyperV Machine: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Ausführen von beliebigem Programmcode mit Administratorrechten BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · May 10, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:10706-1 podman-5.8.2-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · May 7, 2026