Privilege escalation in Apptainer
CVE-2023-38496
Apptainer is an open source container platform. Version 1.2.0-rc.2 introduced an ineffective privilege drop when requesting container network setup, therefore subsequent functions are called with root privileges, the attack surface is rather limited for users but an attacker could possibly craft a starter config to delete any directory on the host filesystems. A security fix has been included in Apptainer 1.2.1. There is no known workaround outside of upgrading to Apptainer 1.2.1.
Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.003 (16.7th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 17th percentile — 16.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Apptainer — versions >= 1.2.0-rc.2, < 1.2.1
- Lfprojects Apptainer — versions 1.2.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
- github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523 (Patch)
- github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1578 (Patch)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2023-38496?
- CVE-2023-38496 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apptainer, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2023-07-25.
- How severe is CVE-2023-38496?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.