CVE-2025-65105 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.5) CWE-61 vulnerability in github.com/apptainer/apptainer. A fix is available for github.com/apptainer/apptainer — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apptainer ineffective application of selinux and apparmor --security options
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-65105.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
github.com/apptainer/apptainerReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
In Apptainer versions less than 1.4.5, a container can disable two of the forms of the little used --security option, in particular the forms --security=apparmor:<profile> and --security=selinux:<label> which otherwise put restrictions on operations that containers can do. The --security option has always been mentioned in Apptainer documentation as being a feature for the root user, although these forms do also work for unprivileged users on systems where the corresponding feature is enabled. Apparmor is enabled by default on Debian-based distributions and SElinux is enabled by default on RHEL-based distributions, but on SUSE it depends on the distribution version.
In addition, a bug in the detection of selinux support in Apptainer's suid mode means that --security selinux:<label> flags may not be applied, even in the absence of an attack. In that case a warning message is emitted indicating that selinux is unavailable, but the warning may be may be overlooked, mis-interpreted, or not seen when apptainer is run from a script or other tool. Failure to apply requested restrictions should result in a fatal error rather than just a warning message.
Patches
Ineffective write of selinux process labels is addressed via an update to the containers/selinux dependency in https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/3226. That update brings in the upstream fix for https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm which was for a different but related vulnerability.
Ineffective write of apparmor process profiles is addressed in commit 4313b42.
Failure to detect apparmor / selinux support, when --security flags are provided, is made an error rather than a warning in commit 82f1790.
Workarounds
There are no known workarounds, other than to define system-wide apparmor / selinux policy for Apptainer itself. This would apply to all containers, not just those run with the --security flags, and could impact the operation of Apptainer itself.
References
Thanks to Sylabs for finding this issue, fixing it in https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-wwrx-w7c9-rf87 which was easy to import into Apptainer, and disclosing it early to the Apptainer project for a coordinated release.
The related upstream runc disclosure which inspired the investigation is https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/apptainer/apptainer | all versions | 1.4.5go get github.com/apptainer/apptainer@v1.4.5 |
Affected Products
apptainerlfprojectsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/apptainer/apptainer, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/apptainer/apptainer to 1.4.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-65105 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This vulnerability is rated Moderate for Red Hat because Apptainer, when running containers on RHEL-based systems with SELinux enabled, allows a container to bypass the intended security restrictions provided by the --security=selinux option. This could lead to a reduction in the security posture of the container,…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2025-65105 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-65105 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.