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.

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

  - 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. (CVE-2023-38496)

The remote openSUSE 15 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the openSUSE-SU-2024:0244-1 advisory.

    - Make sure, digest values handled by the Go library       github.com/opencontainers/go-digest and used throughout the       Go-implemented containers ecosystem are always validated. This       prevents attackers from triggering unexpected authenticated       registry accesses. (CVE-2024-3727, boo#1224114).


    - Updated apptainer to version 1.3.0
      * FUSE mounts are now supported in setuid mode, enabling full         functionality even when kernel filesystem mounts are insecure due to         unprivileged users having write access to raw filesystems in         containers. When allow `setuid-mount extfs = no` (the default) in         apptainer.conf, then the fuse2fs image driver will be used to mount         ext3 images in setuid mode instead of the kernel driver (ext3 images         are primarily used for the `--overlay` feature), restoring         functionality that was removed by default in Apptainer 1.1.8 because         of the security risk.
        The allow `setuid-mount squashfs` configuration option in         `apptainer.conf` now has a new default called `iflimited` which allows         kernel squashfs mounts only if there is at least one `limit container`         option set or if Execution Control Lists are activated in ecl.toml.
        If kernel squashfs mounts are are not allowed, then the squashfuse         image driver will be used instead.
        `iflimited` is the default because if one of those limits are used         the system administrator ensures that unprivileged users do not have         write access to the containers, but on the other hand using FUSE         would enable a user to theoretically bypass the limits via `ptrace()`         because the FUSE process runs as that user.
        The `fuse-overlayfs` image driver will also now be tried in setuid         mode if the kernel overlayfs driver does not work (for example if         one of the layers is a FUSE filesystem).  In addition, if `allow         setuid-mount encrypted = no` then the unprivileged gocryptfs format         will be used for encrypting SIF files instead of the kernel         device-mapper. If a SIF file was encrypted using the gocryptfs         format, it can now be mounted in setuid mode in addition to         non-setuid mode.
      * Change the default in user namespace mode to use either kernel         overlayfs or fuse-overlayfs instead of the underlay feature for the         purpose of adding bind mount points. That was already the default in         setuid mode; this change makes it consistent. The underlay feature         can still be used with the `--underlay` option, but it is deprecated         because the implementation is complicated and measurements have         shown that the performance of underlay is similar to overlayfs and         fuse-overlayfs.
        For now the underlay feature can be made the default again with a         new `preferred` value on the `enable underlay` configuration option.
        Also the `--underlay` option can be used in setuid mode or as the         root user, although it was ignored previously.
      * Prefer again to use kernel overlayfs over fuse-overlayfs when a         lower layer is FUSE and there's no writable upper layer, undoing the         change from 1.2.0. Another workaround was found for the problem that         change addressed. This applies in both setuid mode and in user         namespace mode.
      * `--cwd` is now the preferred form of the flag for setting the         container's working directory, though `--pwd` is still supported for         compatibility.
      * The way `--home` is handled when running as root (e.g. sudo apptainer)         or with `--fakeroot` has changed. Previously, we were only modifying         the `HOME` environment variable in these cases, while leaving the         container's `/etc/passwd` file unchanged (with its homedir field         pointing to `/root`, regardless of the value passed to `--home`). With         this change, both value of HOME and the contents of `/etc/passwd` in         the container will reflect the value passed to `--home` if the         container is readonly. If the container is writable, the         `/etc/passwd` file is left alone because it can interfere with         commands that want to modify it.
      * The `--vm` and related flags to start apptainer inside a VM have been         removed. This functionality was related to the retired Singularity Desktop         / SyOS projects.
      * The keyserver-related commands that were under `remote` have been moved to         their own, dedicated `keyserver` command. Run `apptainer help keyserver`         for more information.
      * The commands related to OCI/Docker registries that were under `remote` have         been moved to their own, dedicated `registry` command. Run         `apptainer help registry` for more information.
      * The the `remote list` subcommand now outputs only remote endpoints (with         keyservers and OCI/Docker registries having been moved to separate         commands), and the output has been streamlined.
      * Adding a new remote endpoint using the `apptainer remote add` command will         now set the new endpoint as default. This behavior can be suppressed by         supplying the `--no-default` (or `-n`) flag to `remote add`.
      * Skip parsing build definition file template variables after comments         beginning with a hash symbol.
      * The global `/tmp` directory is no longer used for gocryptfs mountpoints.
    - New Features & Functionality
      * The `remote status` command will now print the username, realname, and         email of the logged-in user, if available.
      * Add monitoring feature support, which requires the usage of an         additional tool named `apptheus`, this tool will put apptainer starter         into a newly created cgroup and collect system metrics.
      * A new `--no-pid` flag for `apptainer run/shell/exec` disables the PID         namespace inferred by `--containall` and `--compat`.
      * Added `--config` option to `keyserver` commands.
      * Honor an optional remoteName argument to the `keyserver list` command.
      * Added the `APPTAINER_ENCRYPTION_PEM_DATA` env var to allow for         encrypting and running encrypted containers without a PEM file.
      * Adding `--sharens` mode for `apptainer exec/run/shell`, which enables to         run multiple apptainer instances created by the same parent using         the same image in the same user namespace.
    - Make 'gocryptfs' an optional dependency.
    - Make apptainer definition templates version dependent.

    - Fix 'apptainer build' using signed packages from the SUSE       Registry (boo#1221364).

    - Updated apptainer to version 1.2.5
      * Added `libnvidia-nvvm` to `nvliblist.conf`. Newer NVIDIA         Drivers (known with >= 525.85.05) require this lib to compile         OpenCL programs against NVIDIA GPUs, i.e. `libnvidia-opencl`         depends on `libnvidia-nvvm`.
      * Disable the usage of cgroup in instance creation when         `--fakeroot` is passed.
      * Disable the usage of cgroup in instance creation when `hidepid`         mount option on `/proc` is set.
      * Fixed a regression introduced in 1.2.0 where the user's         password file information was not copied in to the container         when there was a parent root-mapped user namespace (as is the         case for example in `cvmfsexec`).
      * Added the upcoming NVIDIA driver library `libnvidia-gpucomp.so`         to the list of libraries to add to NVIDIA GPU-enabled         containers. Fixed missing error handling during the creation         of an encrypted image that lead to the generation of corrupted         images.
      * Use `APPTAINER_TMPDIR` for temporary files during privileged         image encryption.
      * If rootless unified cgroups v2 is available when starting an         image but `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` or `DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS` is         not set, print an info message that stats will not be available         instead of exiting with a fatal error.
      * Allow templated build arguments to definition files to have         empty values.
    - Package .def templates separately for different SPs.

    - Do not build squashfuse, require it as a dependency.
    - Replace awkward 'Obsoletes: singularity-*' as well as the       'Provides: Singularity' by 'Conflicts:' and drop the provides -       the versioning scheme does not match and we do not automatically       migrate from one to the other.
    - Exclude platforms which do not provide all build dependencies.

    - updated to 1.2.3 with following changes:
      * The apptainer push/pull commands now show a progress bar for the oras         protocol like there was for docker and library protocols.
      * The --nv and --rocm flags can now be used simultaneously.
      * Fix the use of APPTAINER_CONFIGDIR with apptainer instance start and action         commands that refer to instance://.
      * Fix the issue that apptainer would not read credentials from the Docker         fallback path ~/.docker/config.json if missing in the apptainer         credentials.

    - updated to 1.2.2 with following changes:
      * Fix $APPTAINER_MESSAGELEVEL to correctly set the logging level.
      * Fix build failures when in setuid mode and unprivileged user namespaces are         unavailable and the --fakeroot option is not selected.

    - updated to 1.2.1 to fix CVE-2023-38496 although not relevant as package is       compiled with setuid

    - update to 1.2.0 with following changes:
      * binary is built reproducible which disables plugins
      * Create the current working directory in a container when it doesn't exist.
        This restores behavior as it was before singularity 3.6.0. As a result,         using --no-mount home won't have any effect when running apptainer from a         home directory and will require --no-mount home,cwd to avoid mounting that         directory.
      * Handle current working directory paths containing symlinks both on the host         and in a container but pointing to different destinations. If detected, the         current working directory is not mounted when the destination directory in         the container exists.
      * Destination mount points are now sorted by shortest path first to ensure         that a user bind doesn't override a previous bind path when set in         arbitrary order on the CLI. This is also applied to image binds.
      * When the kernel supports unprivileged overlay mounts in a user namespace,         the container will be constructed by default using an overlay instead of an         underlay layout for bind mounts. A new --underlay action option can be used         to prefer underlay instead of overlay.
      * sessiondir maxsize in apptainer.conf now defaults to 64 MiB for new         installations. This is an increase from 16 MiB in prior versions.
      * The apptainer cache is now architecture aware, so the same home directory         cache can be shared by machines with different architectures.
      * Overlay is blocked on the panfs filesystem, allowing sandbox directories to         be run from panfs without error.
      * Lookup and store user/group information in stage one prior to entering any         namespaces, to fix an issue with winbind not correctly looking up         user/group information when using user namespaces.
    - New features / functionalities
      * Support for unprivileged encryption of SIF files using gocryptfs.  This is         not compatible with privileged encryption, so containers encrypted by root         need to be rebuilt by an unprivileged user.
      * Templating support for definition files. Users can now define variables in         definition files via a matching pair of double curly brackets. Variables of         the form {{ variable }} will be replaced by a value defined either by a         variable=value entry in the %arguments section of the definition file or         through new build options --build-arg or --build-arg-file.
      * Add a new instance run command that will execute the runscript when an         instance is initiated instead of executing the startscript.
      * The sign and verify commands now support signing and verification with         non-PGP key material by specifying the path to a private key via the --key         flag.
      * The verify command now supports verification with X.509 certificates by         specifying the path to a certificate via the --certificate flag. By         default, the system root certificate pool is used as trust anchors unless         overridden via the --certificate-roots flag. A pool of intermediate         certificates that are not trust anchors, but can be used to form a         certificate chain, can also be specified via the
        --certificate-intermediates flag.
      * Support for online verification checks of X.509 certificates using OCSP         protocol via the new verify --ocsp-verify option.
      * The instance stats command displays the resource usage every second. The
        --no-stream option disables this interactive mode and shows the         point-in-time usage.
      * Instances are now started in a cgroup by default, when run as root or when         unified cgroups v2 with systemd as manager is configured. This allows         apptainer instance stats to be supported by default when possible.
      * The instance start command now accepts an optional --app <name> argument         which invokes a start script within the %appstart <name> section in the         definition file. The instance stop command still only requires the instance         name.
      * The instance name is now available inside an instance via the new         APPTAINER_INSTANCE environment variable.
      * The --no-mount flag now accepts the value bind-paths to disable mounting of         all bind path entries in apptainer.conf.
        Support for DOCKER_HOST parsing when using docker-daemon://         DOCKER_USERNAME and DOCKER_PASSWORD supported without APPTAINER_ prefix.
        Add new Linux capabilities CAP_PERFMON, CAP_BPF, and CAP_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE.
      * The remote get-login-password command allows users to retrieve a remote's         token. This enables piping the secret directly into docker login while         preventing it from showing up in a shell's history.
      * Define EUID in %environment alongside UID.
      * In --rocm mode, the whole of /dev/dri is now bound into the container when
        --contain is in use. This makes /dev/dri/render devices available, required         for later ROCm versions.

    - update to 1.1.9 with following changes:
      * Remove warning about unknown xino=on option from fuse-overlayfs, introduced         in 1.1.8.
      * Ignore extraneous warning from fuse-overlayfs about a readonly /proc.
      * Fix dropped 'n' characters on some platforms in definition file stored as         part of SIF metadata.
      * Remove duplicated group ids.
      * Fix not being able to handle multiple entries in LD_PRELOAD when binding         fakeroot into container during apptainer startup for --fakeroot with         fakeroot command.

    - Included a fix for CVE-2023-30549 which is a vulnerability in setuid-root       installations of Apptainer iwhich was not active in the recent openSUSE       packages. Still this is included for completenss. The fix adds allow       setuid-mount configuration options encrypted, squashfs, and extfs, and makes       the default for extfs be 'no'. That disables the use of extfs mounts       including for overlays or binds while in the setuid-root mode, while leaving       it enabled for unprivileged user namespace mode. The default for encrypted       and squashfs is 'yes'.
    - Other bug fixes:
      * Fix loop device 'no such device or address' spurious errors when using shared         loop devices.
      * Add xino=on mount option for writable kernel overlay mount points to fix         inode numbers consistency after kernel cache flush (not applicable to         fuse-overlayfs).


    - updated to 1.1.7 with following changes:
      * Allow gpu options such as --nv to be nested by always inheriting all         libraries bound in to a parent container's /.singularity.d/libs.
      * Map the user's home directory to the root home directory by default in the         non-subuid fakeroot mode like it was in the subuid fakeroot mode, for both         action commands and building containers from definition files.
      * Make the error message more helpful in another place where a remote is         found to have no library client.
      * Avoid incorrect error when requesting fakeroot network.
      * Pass computed LD_LIBRARY_PATH to wrapped unsquashfs. Fixes issues where         unsquashfs on host uses libraries in non-default paths.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
417046	SCA: security update for github.com/apptainer/apptainer (GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx)	Tenable Cloud Security	SCA Checks	low
417046	SCA: security update for github.com/apptainer/apptainer (GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx)	Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security	SCA Checks	low
205746	openSUSE 15 Security Update : apptainer (openSUSE-SU-2024:0244-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2023-38496

low

Tenable Plugins

low

low

high