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ApportApplication · Apport Project

CVE-2018-6552

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-05-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
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.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Apport's is_same_ns() function returns True when /proc/<global pid>/ does not exist to indicate global namespace handling, but the crash-forwarding logic fails to replace sys.argv[1] with the host_pid variable in this case. This causes the container PID to be used in the global namespace, allowing local users to create files as root and potentially achieve privilege escalation or container escape.

MitigationUpgrade Apport to a patched version. If patching is not possible, consider disabling Apport crash handling in containerized environments or restricting access to the apport functionality.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ApportApplication
Affected:= 2.14.1= 2.20.9= 2.20.7= 2.20.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Apport is installed
    Run `dpkg -l apport` on Debian/Ubuntu, or `rpm -qi apport` on RHEL/Fedora, or check for `/usr/bin/apport`
    Affected if Apport package is not installed or the binary does not exist on the system
  2. Determine installed Apport version
    Run `apport-cli --version` or `apport --version` or use the package manager to query the version
    Affected if The installed version matches 2.14.1, 2.20.1, 2.20.7, or 2.20.9
  3. Detect if running in a container environment
    Check for container indicators: look for /.dockerenv, /proc/1/cgroup containing 'docker' or 'lxc', or check `systemd-detect-virt` output for container types
    Affected if The system is running inside a container (this vulnerability primarily affects containerized environments)
  4. Inspect Apport crash handling configuration
    Check `/etc/apport/crashdb.conf` or `/etc/apport/default` and look for settings related to 'blacklist', 'unpackaged', or 'exceptions'
    Affected if Apport crash handling is enabled and the system accepts crash reports (default behavior)
  5. Verify the is_same_ns function vulnerability condition
    Examine Apport source code in `/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/report.py` or similar path for the is_same_ns function - check if it returns True when /proc/<global_pid>/ does not exist without properly handling sys.argv[1] replacement
    Affected if The is_same_ns function in the installed Apport version returns True for non-existent global PIDs without replacing the PID argument

You are affected if Apport is installed with version 2.14.1, 2.20.1, 2.20.7, or 2.20.9 and the system is running in a container where crash reports can be forwarded with the incorrect container PID used in the global namespace.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Apport to a patched version. If patching is not possible, consider disabling Apport crash handling in containerized environments or restricting access to the apport functionality.

Fix this in Apport Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-6552 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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