runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification. In versions 1.2.7, 1.3.2 and 1.4.0-rc.2, an attacker can trick runc into misdirecting writes to /proc to other procfs files through the use of a racing container with shared mounts (we have also verified this attack is possible to exploit using a standard Dockerfile with docker buildx build as that also permits triggering parallel execution of containers with custom shared mounts configured). This redirect could be through symbolic links in a tmpfs or theoretically other methods such as regular bind-mounts. While similar, the mitigation applied for the related CVE, CVE-2019-19921, was fairly limited and effectively only caused runc to verify that when LSM labels are written they are actually procfs files. This issue is fixed in versions 1.2.8, 1.3.3, and 1.4.0-rc.3.
This vulnerability affects an unusually large number of packages. The highest-confidence fixes are shown above; the full list is longer. Check the referenced advisories for complete coverage.
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Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U
Exploit Intelligence
0.52%probability of exploitation in 30 days
42ndpercentile
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 42% of all known CVEs.
Published advisories record a fix for 269 affected products. The "How to fix" section on this page lists the fixed version and source advisory for each one, so apply the entry matching what you actually run.
Is CVE-2025-52881 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2025-52881 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 0.52% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 42% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2025-52881?
CVE-2025-52881 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.3, rated important. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2025-52881 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for runc (Debian), aardvark-dns-2:1.0.1 (Red Hat / RHEL), aardvark-dns-2:1.0.1 (Rocky), aardvark-dns-2:1.10.1 (Rocky), and 265 more. The list on this page is capped, so there may be more.
TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.
This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-12-03.