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Vulnerability record · CVE-2023-38496 · published 25 July 2023

CVE-2023-38496: Lfprojects apptainer improper privilege management vulnerability

Lfprojects · Apptainer

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.

3.3 CVSS 3.1 Low EPSS 0.26% · top 83.3% CWE-269 · Improper privilege managementCWE-271 · CWE-271
3.3CVSS 3.1 base score
0.26%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
6References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523 Patch
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1578 Patch
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx PatchVendor Advisory
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523 Patch
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1578 Patch
https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-mmx5-32m4-wxvx PatchVendor Advisory

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Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2023-38496), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-10-19). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.