GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255

Workarounds

If upgrading is not possible, users can implement the fix in rego and pass it to contrast generate --policy. The rego-only fix is a bit trickier than the patch, because the data to check is binary. See the references for details.

Resources

• Upstream GHSA: https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/security/advisories/GHSA-q49m-57vm-c8cc
• Alternative policy-only fix: https://gist.github.com/burgerdev/304dd0ab0fff1665b7c27e18a30cf96e

The Kata agent policies generated by the Contrast CLI had an issue in the CopyFile verification, which allowed arbitrary writes to the guest root filesytem. A malicious process on the host with the capability to connect to the Kata agent VSOCK could connect to the agent and issue a series of CopyFile requests to overwrite security-critical files or trick the workload into disclosing sensitive data, which effectively amounts to a full guest takeover.

GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). The vector is reachable from an adjacent network, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.19.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

This issue has been patched in Contrast v1.19.1.

Note that this fix does not change the fact that host-provided content is generally not trustworthy, as documented.

1. What is GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255? GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 is a high-severity security vulnerability in github.com/edgelesssys/contrast (go), affecting versions < 1.19.1. It is fixed in 1.19.1.
2. How severe is GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255? GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of github.com/edgelesssys/contrast are affected by GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255? github.com/edgelesssys/contrast (go) versions < 1.19.1 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255? Yes. GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 is fixed in 1.19.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix GHSA-RH99-WC69-C255? Upgrade github.com/edgelesssys/contrast to 1.19.1 or later.