CVE-2018-6552: Apport treats the container PID as the global PID when /proc/<global_pid>/ is missing
First published: Thu May 31 2018(Updated: )
Apport does not properly handle crashes originating from a PID namespace allowing local users to create certain files as root which an attacker could leverage to perform a denial of service via resource exhaustion, possibly gain root privileges, or escape from containers. The is_same_ns() function returns True when /proc/<global pid>/ does not exist in order to indicate that the crash should be handled in the global namespace rather than inside of a container. However, the portion of the data/apport code that decides whether or not to forward a crash to a container does not always replace sys.argv[1] with the value stored in the host_pid variable when /proc/<global pid>/ does not exist which results in the container pid being used in the global namespace. This flaw affects versions 2.20.8-0ubuntu4 through 2.20.9-0ubuntu7, 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.7, 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.8, 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.15 through 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.17, and 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.28.
Credit: security@ubuntu.com
| Affected Software | Affected Version | How to fix |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.14.1 | |
| Ubuntu | =14.04 | |
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.9 | |
| Ubuntu | =18.04 | |
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.7 | |
| Ubuntu | =17.10 | |
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.1 | |
| Ubuntu | =16.04 | |
| All of | ||
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.14.1 | |
| Ubuntu | =14.04 | |
| All of | ||
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.9 | |
| Ubuntu | =18.04 | |
| All of | ||
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.7 | |
| Ubuntu | =17.10 | |
| All of | ||
| Ubuntu Python3-apport | =2.20.1 | |
| Ubuntu | =16.04 |
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Reference Links
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3664-2/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3664-1
- https://launchpad.net/bugs/cve/CVE-2018-6552
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-6552
- https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2018-6552
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6552
- https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-6552
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2018-6552?
CVE-2018-6552 has a medium severity level due to its potential to allow local users to create files as root.
How do I fix CVE-2018-6552?
To fix CVE-2018-6552, update Apport to its latest version that addresses this vulnerability.
What versions of Apport are affected by CVE-2018-6552?
CVE-2018-6552 primarily affects Apport versions 2.14.1, 2.20.1, 2.20.7, and 2.20.9.
Which Ubuntu versions are impacted by CVE-2018-6552?
CVE-2018-6552 impacts Ubuntu 14.04 LTS along with other Apport versions but does not affect Ubuntu 16.04, 17.10, or 18.04 LTS.
Can CVE-2018-6552 lead to privilege escalation?
Yes, CVE-2018-6552 can potentially lead to privilege escalation and resource exhaustion through local exploitation.
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