containerd supplementary groups are not set up properly

Summary

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.

Timeline

1. Feb 16, 2023, 2:09 PM UTCCVE published
2. Mar 10, 2025, 9:00 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

3. Mar 10, 2025, 9:10 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• containerd containerd

  fixed in 1.5.18; From 1.6.0 · fixed in 1.6.18

• github.com/containerd/containerdGo

  fixed in 1.5.18; From 1.6.0 · fixed in 1.6.18

• github.com/containerd/containerdGo

  fixed in 1.5.18

• github.com/containerd/containerdGo

  From 1.6.0 · fixed in 1.6.18

References 12