CVE-2021-3602 : Vulnerability Insights and Analysis
Learn about CVE-2021-3602, an information disclosure flaw in Buildah that allows unauthorized access to sensitive data in container builds. Find out the impact, affected systems, and mitigation steps.
An information disclosure flaw in Buildah allows processes in container builds to access sensitive environment variables, potentially leading to exposure of confidential data, such as container registry credentials, in CI/CD environments.
Understanding CVE-2021-3602
Buildah, when building containers using chroot isolation, is affected by an information disclosure vulnerability that could result in unauthorized access to sensitive information.
What is CVE-2021-3602?
CVE-2021-3602 is an information disclosure vulnerability found in Buildah that enables processes in container builds to retrieve environment variables from parent and grandparent processes, potentially exposing confidential data.
The Impact of CVE-2021-3602
Exploiting this vulnerability could allow malicious actors to access sensitive information shared with Buildah, such as container registry credentials, leading to a breach of confidentiality and potential unauthorized access.
Technical Details of CVE-2021-3602
The vulnerability affects versions of Buildah including v1.21.2, v1.20.0, v1.19.8, v1.18.0, v1.17.1, v1.16.7, and is fixed in versions v1.21.3, v1.19.9, v1.17.2, v1.16.8, v1.22.0 and above.
Vulnerability Description
When operating in a CI/CD environment, running processes in container builds can access environment variables from parent processes, potentially revealing sensitive information meant only for Buildah's use, such as credentials.
Affected Systems and Versions
Buildah versions v1.21.2, v1.20.0, v1.19.8, v1.18.0, v1.17.1, v1.16.7 are affected. The vulnerability is patched in versions v1.21.3, v1.19.9, v1.17.2, v1.16.8, v1.22.0 and later.
Exploitation Mechanism
By exploiting the flaw, threat actors could gain unauthorized access to sensitive information like container registry credentials that were passed to container instances during CI/CD processes.
Mitigation and Prevention
To protect against CVE-2021-3602, immediate steps and long-term security practices should be implemented, along with timely patching and updates.
Immediate Steps to Take
Organizations should review and update their CI/CD environment configurations to restrict access to sensitive information and regularly monitor containerized builds for unauthorized access.
Long-Term Security Practices
Implement security best practices, such as least privilege access, encryption of sensitive data, and regular security audits to detect and prevent information disclosure vulnerabilities.
Patching and Updates
Ensure that affected Buildah versions are updated to the fixed versions (v1.21.3, v1.19.9, v1.17.2, v1.16.8, v1.22.0 and above) to mitigate the risk of information disclosure.