A flaw was found in the Mirror Registry. The quay-app container shipped as part of the Mirror Registry for OpenShift has write access to the /etc/passwd. This flaw allows a malicious actor with access to the container to modify the passwd file and elevate their privileges to the root user within that pod.
Weakness
During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.
Potential Mitigations
- Compartmentalize the system to have “safe” areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
- Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.
References