Contras Affected by CopyFile Policy Subversion via Symlinks
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Fixed
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from GitHub.
Summary
### Impact The [Kata agent policies](https://docs.edgeless.systems/contrast/architecture/components/policies) generated by the Contrast CLI had an issue in the `CopyFile` verification, which allowed arbitrary writes to the guest root filesytem. A malicious process on the host with the capability to connect to the Kata agent VSOCK could connect to the agent and issue a series of `CopyFile` requests to overwrite security-critical files or trick the workload into disclosing sensitive data, which effectively amounts to a full guest takeover. ### Patches This issue has been patched in Contrast v1.19.1. Note that this fix does not change the fact that host-provided content is generally not trustworthy, as documented. ### Workarounds If upgrading is not possible, users can implement the fix in rego and pass it to `contrast generate --policy`. The rego-only fix is a bit trickier than the patch, because the data to check is binary. See the references for details. ### Resources * Upstream GHSA: https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/security/advisories/GHSA-q49m-57vm-c8cc * Alternative policy-only fix: https://gist.github.com/burgerdev/304dd0ab0fff1665b7c27e18a30cf96e
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | github.com/edgelesssys/contrast (Go) | before 1.19.1 | 1.19.1 | Patch available | GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255 |
- github.com/edgelesssys/contrast (Go) Vendor— Affected before 1.19.1 Fixed in 1.19.1 Patch available GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255 github.com/edgelesssys/contrast (Go) Fixed in 1.19.1 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-03 Threatist record created from GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255
References
Other 5
- https://github.com/edgelesssys/contrast/security/advisories/GHSA-rh99-wc69-c255
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/security/advisories/GHSA-q49m-57vm-c8cc
- https://gist.github.com/burgerdev/304dd0ab0fff1665b7c27e18a30cf96e
- https://github.com/edgelesssys/contrast
- https://github.com/edgelesssys/contrast/releases/tag/v1.19.1
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences