A flaw was found in CRI-O's container-creation environment-variable handling
(`mergeEnvs` in `server/utils.go`, consumed by `setupContainerEnvironmentAndWorkdir` in
`server/container_create.go`). When a `CreateContainer` request supplies a `nil` CRI
`Envs` field, CRI-O falls back to using the target OCI image's `config.Env` entries
unfiltered, in contrast to the normal merge path, which validates each entry for a
`key=value` form before use. An OCI image whose `config.Env` contains an entry with no
`=` character (e.g. a bare `NOEQUALS` string) causes CRI-O to split that entry into a
single-element slice and then index its second element, which is out of range. This
triggers an unrecovered Go runtime panic in the `crio` daemon process, crashing it and
terminating the container-runtime service for all workloads on the node until it is
restarted.
(`mergeEnvs` in `server/utils.go`, consumed by `setupContainerEnvironmentAndWorkdir` in
`server/container_create.go`). When a `CreateContainer` request supplies a `nil` CRI
`Envs` field, CRI-O falls back to using the target OCI image's `config.Env` entries
unfiltered, in contrast to the normal merge path, which validates each entry for a
`key=value` form before use. An OCI image whose `config.Env` contains an entry with no
`=` character (e.g. a bare `NOEQUALS` string) causes CRI-O to split that entry into a
single-element slice and then index its second element, which is out of range. This
triggers an unrecovered Go runtime panic in the `crio` daemon process, crashing it and
terminating the container-runtime service for all workloads on the node until it is
restarted.
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
Advisories
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Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | A flaw was found in CRI-O's container-creation environment-variable handling (`mergeEnvs` in `server/utils.go`, consumed by `setupContainerEnvironmentAndWorkdir` in `server/container_create.go`). When a `CreateContainer` request supplies a `nil` CRI `Envs` field, CRI-O falls back to using the target OCI image's `config.Env` entries unfiltered, in contrast to the normal merge path, which validates each entry for a `key=value` form before use. An OCI image whose `config.Env` contains an entry with no `=` character (e.g. a bare `NOEQUALS` string) causes CRI-O to split that entry into a single-element slice and then index its second element, which is out of range. This triggers an unrecovered Go runtime panic in the `crio` daemon process, crashing it and terminating the container-runtime service for all workloads on the node until it is restarted. | |
| Title | Cri-o: cri-o: unvalidated image env var causes daemon crash | |
| First Time appeared |
Redhat
Redhat openshift |
|
| Weaknesses | CWE-1287 | |
| CPEs | cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4 | |
| Vendors & Products |
Redhat
Redhat openshift |
|
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
cvssV3_1
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: redhat
Published:
Updated: 2026-08-24T21:36:12.479Z
Reserved: 2026-07-24T15:50:17.184Z
Link: CVE-2026-17113
Vulnrichment
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NVD
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Redhat
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OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses