CVE-2026-34045
Description
A flaw was found in Podman Desktop. A remote attacker can exploit an unauthenticated HTTP server, which lacks proper connection limits and timeouts, to trigger denial-of-service (DoS) conditions. This can lead to application crashes or a complete host freeze. Additionally, verbose error responses from the server may disclose sensitive information, such as internal file paths and system details, including usernames on Windows systems.
Statement
Podman Desktop is vulnerable to denial-of-service and information disclosure. An unauthenticated HTTP server, lacking proper connection limits, allows remote attackers to trigger application crashes or host freezes. Additionally, verbose error responses may expose sensitive internal paths and system details. This affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions shipping Podman Desktop. Red Hat Product Security has rated this vulnerability as having the severity of Important as it allows remote unauthenticated users to compromise system availability (A:H), additionally the leak of sensitive path information leakage in error message may allow the attacker to gain knowledge about the environment on which podman-desktop is running.
Mitigation
Restrict network access to the system running Podman Desktop. Configure a firewall to block incoming connections to the ports used by Podman Desktop's unauthenticated HTTP server from untrusted networks. For example, using `firewall-cmd` on Red Hat Enterprise Linux:
bash
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family="ipv4" port port=<PORT_NUMBER> protocol="tcp" reject'
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Replace `<PORT_NUMBER>` with the actual port used by Podman Desktop. This mitigation limits the attack surface and prevents remote exploitation, but may impact the ability to remotely manage or interact with Podman Desktop.
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).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 8.2 | 9.1 | 8.2 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | High | Low |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | None |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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