Apptainer up to 1.5.0 Path Authorization apptainer.conf Image.AuthorizedPath limit container paths path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as very critical has been reported in Apptainer up to 1.5.0. This affects the function Image.AuthorizedPath of the file apptainer.conf of the component Path Authorization. This manipulation of the argument limit container paths causes path traversal. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-48785. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Apptainer up to 1.5.0 and classified as very critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function Image.AuthorizedPath of the file apptainer.conf of the component Path Authorization. The manipulation of the argument limit container paths with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Apptainer is an open source container platform. Prior to version 1.5.1, Image.AuthorizedPath applies plain string-prefix matching to the limit container paths directive in apptainer.conf, so an allowed path such as /data/safe also authorizes a sibling path such as /data/safe-but-unsafe. A local user can consequently run a container from a directory outside the administrator's intended allowlist when Apptainer operates in setuid mode. Installations that do not use setuid mode or do not configure limit container paths are not affected, and unrestricted user namespaces already allow users to run containers of their choice. This issue is fixed in version 1.5.1.

The advisory is shared at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-48785 since 05/22/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/15/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1006 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 1.5.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Name

• Apptainer

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5.0

Website

• Product: https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer/

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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