Executive brief
A configuration issue in Netavark, a networking tool used by Podman to manage container connections, could cause containers to connect to the wrong servers. If a container is given a name that matches a real website or external server, the system might mistakenly route traffic to that external server instead of the intended internal container. This could lead to sensitive data being sent to an unauthorized third party or cause service disruptions.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in Netavark due to the removal of the 'dns.podman' search domain in favor of using the host's 'resolv.conf'. When a container is created with a specific hostname, the DNS resolver may attempt to look up that name using the host's search domains. If an external server exists with a matching name within those search domains and returns a valid A/AAAA record, Netavark may forward traffic to that external entity instead of the local container. This is classified as a DNS resolution confusion (CWE-15) and is triggered when container names collide with external domain names present in the host's search path. The issue is fixed in Netavark version 1.15.1 by restoring the default Podman search domain.
Affected products
- containers netavark < 1.15.1
Timeline
- 2025-05-27: patched: Fix merged in upstream pull request #1256
- 2025-07-28: disclosed: CVE-2025-8283 published
- 2025-07-28: advisory: GitHub Advisory GHSA-rpcf-rmh6-42xr published