CVE-2026-110522
Description
A flaw was found in oc-mirror's legacy v1 catalog cache rebuild. When the --build-catalog-cache flag is used, oc-mirror extracts an opm binary from the remote operator catalog image and executes it on the host without verifying its signature, digest, or integrity. An attacker who publishes a malicious catalog image to a registry could supply a trojanized opm binary that is executed with the privileges of the user running oc-mirror, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the mirroring host.
Statement
The flaw affects the legacy oc-mirror v1 command-line tool when processing catalogs with the non-default catalog cache regeneration option enabled. Deployments utilizing oc-mirror v2 do not execute binaries from image payloads and are unaffected.
oc-mirror v1 is deprecated since OpenShift 4.18 and currently there is no signature/checksum included in the operator catalog to verify the opm binary.
The recommendation is to use oc-mirror v2 as v1 is end of life.
Mitigation
There is no fix for this vulnerability as the v1 is deprecated and no longer maintained.
The recommendation is to use oc-mirror v2 as v1 is end of life.
--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-10-20) ---
Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure.
The highest-value action is to prevent execution of binaries extracted from remote catalog images by setting the OPM_BINARY environment variable to a trusted local opm binary or migrating to oc-mirror v2: upgrade to the fixed Openshift4/Oc Mirror Plugin Rhel/Openshift5/Oc Mirror Plugin Rhel builds, which no patch is provided for legacy oc-mirror v1 as it is deprecated; oc-mirror v2 eliminates execution of binaries extracted from container image layers, closing all 2 injection vectors (malicious operator catalog image with trojanized opm binary, untrusted container image layer extraction and direct execution). Until patched, this is only a concern on Linux hosts running oc-mirror v1 with the --build-catalog-cache flag — oc-mirror v2 deployments are unaffected — so Define the OPM_BINARY environment variable pointing to a trusted local opm binary, avoid using the --build-catalog-cache flag, and restrict mirroring to verified operator catalog images. As a compensating measure, Configure auditd to log execve system calls and process execution events to alert on executions of the extracted opm binary, Run SELinux in enforcing mode to confine processes to least-privilege domains and restrict unauthorized host actions, Apply SELinux confined user mappings to constrain user-level execution privileges and filesystem access, Enforce Landlock filesystem sandboxing on oc-mirror and child processes to restrict unauthorized file access, and Isolate the mirroring process within mount, PID, and user namespaces to contain execution within a bounded environment. These controls limit blast radius and contain exploitation, but they do not fix the underlying untrusted binary execution without integrity check — apply the upstream patch to fully remediate.
Highest-impact CME: CME-505 IMA/EVM (Integrity Measurement Architecture) (high)
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
AV:N - attacker publishes malicious catalog image to public registry. AC:H - requires hidden non-default --build-catalog-cache flag. PR:N - no privileges on target system. UI:R - admin must run oc-mirror. S:U - same user/process context, no privilege boundary crossed. C:H/I:H/A:H - full code execution as invoking user.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Availability,Confidentiality,Other
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Alter Execution Logic; Other
An attacker can execute malicious code by compromising the host server, performing DNS spoofing, or modifying the code in transit. Executing untrusted code could compromise the control flow of the program. The untrusted code could execute attacker-controlled commands, read or modify sensitive resources, or prevent the software from functioning correctly for legitimate users.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
