CVE-2026-16487
8.1HighPublished 19 Oct 2026 · NVD status: Received · AI triage by gemini-3.8-flash
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Impact
- Full C/I/A compromise
- Weakness
- CWE-345
Impact
Attackers who can modify image tags in your registry can replace the host root filesystem and run arbitrary code as root upon reboot. They need write access to a mutable tag on a registry configured without strict signature enforcement.
Root cause
The default containers signature policy allows registries to fall through to insecureAcceptAnything, pulling and applying unsigned updates for mutable image tags.
Affected systems
Versions not listed — check the vendor advisory.
CVSS v3.1 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Fix & remediation
Upgrade bootc once vendor packages are published. In the interim, pin bootc deployments to immutable image digests rather than mutable tags, and configure /etc/containers/policy.json to reject unsigned images instead of defaulting to insecureAcceptAnything.
$ cat /etc/containers/policy.jsonAI-suggested. Run it in staging first and check it against the vendor advisory. Why?
NVD description
A flaw was found in bootc when operating with the default containers signature policy. Automatic or manual upgrades of a mutable image tag may apply unsigned content for registries that fall through to insecureAcceptAnything, allowing an attacker who can update that tag to execute arbitrary OS content as the host root filesystem on reboot.