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SCA: security update for github.com/containerd/containerd (GHSA-36xw-fx78-c5r4)
medium Tenable Cloud Security Plugin ID 432153
Description
There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:- containerd is an industry-standard container runtime and is available as a daemon for Linux and Windows.
In containerd before versions 1.3.9 and 1.4.3, the containerd-shim API is improperly exposed to host
network containers. Access controls for the shim’s API socket verified that the connecting process had an
effective UID of 0, but did not otherwise restrict access to the abstract Unix domain socket. This would
allow malicious containers running in the same network namespace as the shim, with an effective UID of 0
but otherwise reduced privileges, to cause new processes to be run with elevated privileges. This
vulnerability has been fixed in containerd 1.3.9 and 1.4.3. Users should update to these versions as soon
as they are released. It should be noted that containers started with an old version of containerd-shim
should be stopped and restarted, as running containers will continue to be vulnerable even after an
upgrade. If you are not providing the ability for untrusted users to start containers in the same network
namespace as the shim (typically the "host" network namespace, for example with docker run --net=host or
hostNetwork: true in a Kubernetes pod) and run with an effective UID of 0, you are not vulnerable to this
issue. If you are running containers with a vulnerable configuration, you can deny access to all abstract
sockets with AppArmor by adding a line similar to deny unix addr=@**, to your policy. It is best practice
to run containers with a reduced set of privileges, with a non-zero UID, and with isolated namespaces. The
containerd maintainers strongly advise against sharing namespaces with the host. Reducing the set of
isolation mechanisms used for a container necessarily increases that container's privilege, regardless of
what container runtime is used for running that container. (CVE-2020-15257)
See Also
Plugin Details
Severity: Medium
ID: 432153
Version: Revision 1.2
Type: Local
Family: SCA Checks
Published: 8/7/2025
Updated: 7/2/2026
Supported Sensors: Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security
Risk Information
VPR
Risk Factor: Medium
Score: 5
Percentile: 94.99
Vendor
Vendor Severity: Medium
CVSS v2
Risk Factor: Low
Base Score: 3.6
Temporal Score: 2.8
Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
CVSS Score Source: CVE-2020-15257
CVSS v3
Risk Factor: Medium
Base Score: 5.2
Temporal Score: 4.7
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
Vulnerability Information
Exploit Available: true
Exploit Ease: Exploits are available
Patch Publication Date: 5/24/2021
Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/1/2020
Reference Information
CVE: CVE-2020-15257
cwe: CWE-669