{"id":"CVE-2025-65105","aliases":["GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j","GO-2025-4176"],"url":"https://o3.security/vulnerability/CVE-2025-65105","summary":"Apptainer ineffective application of selinux and apparmor --security options","details":"### Impact\nIn 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\n### Patches\nIneffective 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.\n\nIneffective write of apparmor process profiles is addressed in commit 4313b42.\n\nFailure to detect apparmor / selinux support, when --security flags are provided, is made an error rather than a warning in commit 82f1790.\n\n### Workarounds\nThere 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.\n\n### References\nThanks 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.\n\nThe related upstream runc disclosure which inspired the investigation is https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm.","published":"2025-12-02T17:49:17.312Z","modified":"2026-08-12T03:51:36.795990087Z","cvss":{"score":4.5,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L"},"epss":null,"cisaKev":null,"exploitsKnown":0,"affectedPackages":[{"ecosystem":"Go","name":"github.com/apptainer/apptainer","fixedVersion":"1.4.5"}],"fix":{"url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/commit/4313b42717e18a4add7dd7503528bc15af905981","label":"apptainer/apptainer@4313b42"},"references":[{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/65xxx/CVE-2025-65105.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/security/advisories/GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-cgrx-mc8f-2prm"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-wwrx-w7c9-rf87"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-65105"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/commit/4313b42717e18a4add7dd7503528bc15af905981"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/commit/82f17900a0c31bc769bf9b4612d271c7068d8bf2"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/pull/3226"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer"}],"provenance":{"sources":["OSV.dev","FIRST.org (EPSS)"],"lastVerified":"2026-08-12T03:51:36.795990087Z"}}