NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2023-38496: Apptainer's ineffective privileges drop when requesting container network

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 13/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.26% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: github.com/apptainer/apptainer (Go) 1.2.1; apptainer (openSUSE:Leap 15.5) 1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2; squashfuse (openSUSE:Leap 15.5) 0.5.0-bp155.2.1.
Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 6.1, NVD 3.3.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to github.com/apptainer/apptainer (Go) 1.2.1; apptainer (openSUSE:Leap 15.5) 1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2; squashfuse (openSUSE:Leap 15.5) 0.5.0-bp155.2.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

LowCVSS 3.3 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Local privilege escalation

Published: Jul 25, 2023
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 0.2% · 17th percentile
CWE: CWE-269

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 13 / 40 · 3.3 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 3.3
CNA · GitHub_M: 6.1; 2.8 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
lfprojects	apptainer	cpe:2.3:a:lfprojects:apptainer

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

lfprojects apptainer1.2.0

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

apptainer apptainer
- >= 1.2.0-rc.2, < 1.2.1affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Go	github.com/apptainer/apptainer	from 1.2.0 · before 1.2.1	1.2.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5	apptainer	before 1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2	1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2
openSUSE:Leap 15.5	squashfuse	before 0.5.0-bp155.2.1	0.5.0-bp155.2.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	apptainer	before 1.2.1-1.1	1.2.1-1.1
SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP5	apptainer	before 1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2	1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2
SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP5	squashfuse	before 0.5.0-bp155.2.1	0.5.0-bp155.2.1

Same product

lfprojects: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2023-30549Unpatched extfs vulnerabilities are exploitable through suid-mode Apptainer
31Monitor
CVE-2025-65105Apptainer ineffective application of selinux and apparmor --security options
21Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
Go:github.com/apptainer/apptainer	1.2.1	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:apptainer	1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:squashfuse	0.5.0-bp155.2.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5	Package registry (OSV)
suse:apptainer	1.3.0-bp155.3.3.2 · SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP5	Package registry (OSV)
suse:squashfuse	0.5.0-bp155.2.1 · SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP5	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
A user must open a link or visit a page.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: none
Integrity: low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: none

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: None
Integrity impact: Low
Availability impact: None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-269 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

yaml

1kind: ClusterRole
2rules:
3  - apiGroups: ["*"]
4    resources: ["*"]
5    verbs: ["*"]

Fixed

yaml

1kind: Role
2metadata:
3  namespace: lodos-system
4rules:
5  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
6    resources: ["deployments"]
7    verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

Abuse Elevation Control MechanismT1548

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:48 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/1523

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records