CVE-2023-25173: containerd supplementary groups are not set up properly

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-25173 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Incorrect Authorization vulnerability in containerd. EPSS estimates a 0.54% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 45.5% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 16-02-2023
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 10-03-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

containerd is an open source container runtime. A bug was found in containerd prior to versions 1.6.18 and 1.5.18 where supplementary groups are not set up properly inside a container. If an attacker has direct access to a container and manipulates their supplementary group access, they may be able to use supplementary group access to bypass primary group restrictions in some cases, potentially gaining access to sensitive information or gaining the ability to execute code in that container. Downstream applications that use the containerd client library may be affected as well. This bug has been fixed in containerd v1.6.18 and v.1.5.18. Users should update to these versions and recreate containers to resolve this issue. Users who rely on a downstream application that uses containerd's client library should check that application for a separate advisory and instructions. As a workaround, ensure that the `"USER $USERNAME"` Dockerfile instruction is not used. Instead, set the container entrypoint to a value similar to `ENTRYPOINT ["su", "-", "user"]` to allow `su` to properly set up supplementary groups.

• CWE-863Incorrect AuthorizationThe product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.