Apptainer ineffectively applies selinux and apparmor --security options

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2025-65105: 0.25% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 16.28 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

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,…

Published by the source

2 Dec 2025, 21:10 UTC

Last modified by the source

2 Dec 2025, 21:10 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:13 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2025-65105

Advisory: Apptainer ineffectively applies selinux and apparmor --security options
IDs: CVE-2025-65105, GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2025-65105 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:13 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/apptainer/apptainer 1.4.5. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/apptainer/apptainer: affected < 1.4.5; fixed in 1.4.5

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/apptainer/apptainer: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/apptainer/apptainer.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-j3rw-fx6g-q46j lists affected ranges: Go github.com/apptainer/apptainer >=0 <1.4.5)

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