CVE-2020-13845: Github.com/sylabs/singularity Execution Control List (ECL) Is Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-pmfr-63c2-jr5c
CVSS 7.5
CWE-354 CWE-347
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-13845 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) execution control list (ecl) is vulnerability (CWE-354: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value) affecting Github.com/sylabs/singularity libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves execution control list (ecl) is insecure in singularity. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.6.0.

CVE-2020-13845 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-13845
GHSA Identifier GHSA-pmfr-63c2-jr5c
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-354: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value
Affected Product Github.com/sylabs/singularity
Package Ecosystem Go
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2020-13845

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Github.com/sylabs/singularity dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

github.com/sylabs/singularity fixed: 3.6.0
Upgrade github.com/sylabs/singularity to 3.6.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for github.com/sylabs/singularity

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2020-13845, inspect your project dependencies for Github.com/sylabs/singularity:

inspect dependencies for github.com/sylabs/singularity

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Github.com/sylabs/singularity in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.6.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-354: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value, where the product does not validate or incorrectly validates the integrity check values or "checksums" of a message. this may prevent it from detecting if the data has been modified or corrupted in transmission. In Github.com/sylabs/singularity, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact The Singularity Execution Control List (ECL) allows system administrators to set up a policy that defines rules about what signature(s) must be (or must not be) present on a SIF container image for it to be permitted to run. In Singularity 3.x versions below 3.6.0, the following issues allow the ECL to be bypassed by a malicious user: * Image integrity is not validated when an ECL policy is enforced. * The fingerprint required by the ECL is compared against the signature object descriptor(s) in the SIF file, rather than to a cryptographically validated signature. Thus, it is trivial to craft an arbitrary payload which will be permitted to run, even if the attacker does not have access to the private key associated with the fingerprint(s) configured in the ECL. ### Patches These issues are addressed in Singularity 3.6.0. All users are advised to upgrade to 3.6.0. Note that Singularity 3.6.0 uses a new signature format that is necessarily incompatible with Singularity < 3.6.0 - e.g. Singularity 3.5.3 cannot verify containers signed by 3.6.0. Version 3.6.0 includes a `legacyinsecure` option that can be set to `legacyinsecure = true` in `ecl.toml` to allow the ECL to perform verification of the older, and insecure, legacy signatures for compatibility with existing containers. This does not guarantee that containers have not been modified since signing, due to other issues in the legacy signature format. The option should be used only to temporarily ease the transition to containers signed with the new 3.6.0 signature format. ### Workarounds This issue affects any installation of Singularity configured to use the Execution Control List (ECL) functionality. There is no workaround if ECL is required. ### For more information General questions about the impact of the advisory / changes made in the 3.6.0 release can be asked in the: * [Singularity Slack Channel](https://bit.ly/2m0g3lX) * [Singularity Mailing List](https://groups.google.com/a/lbl.gov/forum/??sdf%7Csort:date#!forum/singularity) Any sensitive security concerns should be directed to: security@sylabs.io See our Security Policy here: https://sylabs.io/security-policy

CVE-2020-13845 Affected Github.com/sylabs/singularity Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.6.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
github.com/sylabs/singularity
Go
≥ 3.0.0
< 3.6.0
3.6.0

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-13845?
CVE-2020-13845 is a security vulnerability in Github.com/sylabs/singularity involving Execution Control List (ECL) Is Insecure in Singularity under CWE-354: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value.
Which Github.com/sylabs/singularity versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.6.0 across affected packages: github.com/sylabs/singularity.
What version fixes CVE-2020-13845?
Upgrading to 3.6.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is github.com/sylabs/singularity affected?
Yes, github.com/sylabs/singularity is affected in releases prior to 3.6.0. Upgrade your dependency to 3.6.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-13845?
CVE-2020-13845 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2020-13845?
CVE-2020-13845 is classified under CWE-354: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value (The product does not validate or incorrectly validates the integrity check values or "checksums" of a message. This may prevent it from detecting if the data has been modified or corrupted in transmission.).
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2020-13845?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for github.com/sylabs/singularity'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-pmfr-63c2-jr5c",
  "modified" : "2023-01-20T22:02:58Z",
  "published" : "2021-12-20T18:24:30Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-13845" ],
  "summary" : "Execution Control List (ECL) Is Insecure in Singularity",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nThe Singularity Execution Control List (ECL) allows system administrators to set up a policy that defines rules about what signature(s) must be (or must not be) present on a SIF container image for it to be permitted to run.\n\nIn Singularity 3.x versions below 3.6.0, the following issues allow the ECL to be bypassed by a malicious user:\n\n * Image integrity is not validated when an ECL policy is enforced.\n * The fingerprint required by the ECL is compared against the signature object descriptor(s) in the SIF file, rather than to a cryptographically validated signature. Thus, it is trivial to craft an arbitrary payload which will be permitted to run, even if the attacker does not have access to the private key associated with the fingerprint(s) configured in the ECL.\n\n### Patches\n\nThese issues are addressed in Singularity 3.6.0.\n\nAll users are advised to upgrade to 3.6.0. Note that Singularity 3.6.0 uses a new signature format that is necessarily incompatible with Singularity < 3.6.0 - e.g. Singularity 3.5.3 cannot verify containers signed by 3.6.0.\n\nVersion 3.6.0 includes a `legacyinsecure` option that can be set to `legacyinsecure = true` in `ecl.toml` to allow the ECL to perform verification of the older, and insecure, legacy signatures for compatibility with existing containers. This does not guarantee that containers have not been modified since signing, due to other issues in the legacy signature format. The option should be used only to temporarily ease the transition to containers signed with the new 3.6.0 signature format.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nThis issue affects any installation of Singularity configured to use the Execution Control List (ECL) functionality. There is no workaround if ECL is required.\n\n### For more information\n\nGeneral questions about the impact of the advisory / changes made in the 3.6.0 release can be asked in the:\n\n* [Singularity Slack Channel](https://bit.ly/2m0g3lX)\n* [Singularity Mailing List](https://groups.google.com/a/lbl.gov/forum/??sdf%7Csort:date#!forum/singularity)\n\nAny sensitive security concerns should be directed to: security@sylabs.io\n\nSee our Security Policy here: https://sylabs.io/security-policy",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/sylabs/singularity"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.6.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/hpcng/singularity/security/advisories/GHSA-pmfr-63c2-jr5c"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-13845"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://medium.com/sylabs"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00046.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00059.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00053.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-347", "CWE-354" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-05-24T19:13:13Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2020-07-14T18:15:00Z"
  }
}