Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 3.27.0, an issue in Kata with Cloud Hypervisor allows a user of the container to modify the file system used by the Guest micro VM ultimately achieving arbitrary code execution as root in said VM. The current understanding is this doesn’t impact the security of the Host or of other containers / VMs running on that Host (note that arm64 QEMU lacks NVDIMM read-only support: It is believed that until the upstream QEMU gains this capability, a guest write could reach the image file). Version 3.27.0 patches the issue.
Weakness
The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.
Potential Mitigations
- Run the code in a “jail” or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
- OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
- This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
- Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.
Related Attack Patterns
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/122.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/127.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/17.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/180.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/206.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/234.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/60.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/61.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/62.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/642.html