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
This medium-severity CVE scores 6.1 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.0%, top 85% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 6.1
- EG Score
- 6.1(medium)
- EPSS
- 15.2%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 25, 2023
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (6)
- security-advisories@githubhttps://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523
- security-advisories@githubhttps://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1578
- security-advisories@githubhttps://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1578
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Go(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/apptainer/apptainer | — | 1.2.1 | — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 50× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
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Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2023-38496?
When was CVE-2023-38496 disclosed?
Is CVE-2023-38496 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-38496?
How do I remediate CVE-2023-38496?
Dependency Blast Radius
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