GHSA-J3RW-FX6G-Q46J

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-12-02 21:10 – Updated: 2025-12-02 21:10
VLAI?
Summary
Apptainer ineffectively applies selinux and apparmor --security options
Details

Impact

In Apptainer versions less than 1.4.5, a container can disable two of the forms of the little used --security option, in particular the forms --security=apparmor:<profile> and --security=selinux:<label> which otherwise put restrictions on operations that containers can do. The --security option has always been mentioned in Apptainer documentation as being a feature for the root user, although these forms do also work for unprivileged users on systems where the corresponding feature is enabled. Apparmor is enabled by default on Debian-based distributions and SElinux is enabled by default on RHEL-based distributions, but on SUSE it depends on the distribution version.

In addition, a bug in the detection of selinux support in Apptainer's suid mode means that --security selinux:<label> flags may not be applied, even in the absence of an attack. In that case a warning message is emitted indicating that selinux is unavailable, but the warning may be may be overlooked, mis-interpreted, or not seen when apptainer is run from a script or other tool. Failure to apply requested restrictions should result in a fatal error rather than just a warning message.

Patches

Ineffective write of selinux process labels is addressed via an update to the containers/selinux dependency in https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/3226. That update brings in the upstream fix for https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm which was for a different but related vulnerability.

Ineffective write of apparmor process profiles is addressed in commit 4313b42.

Failure to detect apparmor / selinux support, when --security flags are provided, is made an error rather than a warning in commit 82f1790.

Workarounds

There are no known workarounds, other than to define system-wide apparmor / selinux policy for Apptainer itself. This would apply to all containers, not just those run with the --security flags, and could impact the operation of Apptainer itself.

References

Thanks to Sylabs for finding this issue, fixing it in https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-wwrx-w7c9-rf87 which was easy to import into Apptainer, and disclosing it early to the Apptainer project for a coordinated release.

The related upstream runc disclosure which inspired the investigation is https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm.

Severity ?
4.5 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Go",
        "name": "github.com/apptainer/apptainer"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.4.5"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2025-65105"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-61",
      "CWE-706"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2025-12-02T21:10:04Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-12-02T18:15:48Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "### Impact\nIn Apptainer versions less than 1.4.5, a container can disable two of the forms of the little used `--security` option, in particular the forms `--security=apparmor:\u003cprofile\u003e` and `--security=selinux:\u003clabel\u003e` which otherwise put restrictions on operations that containers can do.  The `--security` option has always been mentioned in Apptainer documentation as being a feature for the root user, although these forms do also work for unprivileged users on systems where the corresponding feature is enabled.  Apparmor is enabled by default on Debian-based distributions and SElinux is enabled by default on RHEL-based distributions, but on SUSE it depends on the distribution version.\n\nIn addition, a bug in the detection of selinux support in Apptainer\u0027s suid mode means that `--security selinux:\u003clabel\u003e` flags may not be applied, even in the absence of an attack.  In that case a warning message is emitted indicating that selinux is unavailable, but the warning may be may be overlooked, mis-interpreted, or not seen when apptainer is run from a script or other tool.  Failure to apply requested restrictions should result in a fatal error rather than just a warning message.\n\n### Patches\nIneffective write of selinux process labels is addressed via an update to the containers/selinux dependency in https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/3226. That update brings in the upstream fix for https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm which was for a different but related vulnerability.\n\nIneffective write of apparmor process profiles is addressed in commit 4313b42.\n\nFailure to detect apparmor / selinux support, when --security flags are provided, is made an error rather than a warning in commit 82f1790.\n\n### Workarounds\nThere are no known workarounds, other than to define system-wide apparmor / selinux policy for Apptainer itself. This would apply to all containers, not just those run with the `--security` flags, and could impact the operation of Apptainer itself.\n\n### References\nThanks to Sylabs for finding this issue, fixing it in https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-wwrx-w7c9-rf87 which was easy to import into Apptainer, and disclosing it early to the Apptainer project for a coordinated release.\n\nThe related upstream runc disclosure which inspired the investigation is https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm.",
  "id": "GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j",
  "modified": "2025-12-02T21:10:04Z",
  "published": "2025-12-02T21:10:04Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-wwrx-w7c9-rf87"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-65105"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/3226"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/commit/4313b42717e18a4add7dd7503528bc15af905981"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/commit/82f17900a0c31bc769bf9b4612d271c7068d8bf2"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Apptainer ineffectively applies selinux and apparmor --security options"
}


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  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
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  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.