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mkdtemp() created directories no longer allows for writing files when running under a Windows AppContainer in 3.12.4 (but works under 3.12.3) #134587

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Description

@thatnerdyguy

Bug report

Bug description:

Using the StartAppContainer c++ code at the bottom of this report, build the StartAppContainer.exe.

Grab both the 3.12.3 and 3.12.4 embedded distributions of python.

Use this python code:

import tempfile
import os

# Create a temporary directory
temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
file_path = os.path.join(temp_dir, "tempfile.txt")

content_to_write = "Hello, this is a test."

# Create and write to a file inside the temporary directory
with open(file_path, 'w') as f:
    f.write(content_to_write)

# Read the content back to verify
with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
    content_read = f.read()

# Verify the content
if content_read == content_to_write:
    print("Success: Content verified.")
else:
    print("Error: Content does not match.")

in a test_temp.py file.

Then from a command line run:

StartAppContainer --grant-read "C:\code\python-3.12.3-embed-amd64" --grant-read "C:\Code\test_temp.py" "C:\code\python-3.12.3-embed-amd64\python.exe" "C:\code\test_temp.py"

and see it works. But run

StartAppContainer --grant-read "C:\code\python-3.12.4-embed-amd64" --grant-read "C:\Code\test_temp.py" "C:\code\python-3.12.4-embed-amd64\python.exe" "C:\code\test_temp.py"

and see it fails with

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\code\test_temp.py", line 11, in <module>
    with open(file_path, 'w') as f:
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'C:\\Users\\UserName\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\testpythonappcontainer\\AC\\Temp\\tmp2sy87dk4\\tempfile.txt'

As seen in the error, AppContainer processes get their temp files redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\[PackageName]\AC\Temp. When an AppContainer gets created by the system, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\[PackageName]\AC is explicitly ACL-ed to allow Inherited Full Control of the SID associated with the AppContainer.

I believe this is because of the changes associated with #118486 where the temp directory created with 700 is explicitly no longer inheriting the permissions from their parent.

Is it possible to grab the SID of the process' AppContainer (if any) and append that SID with Full Control to the SDDL being set as the security descriptor on the temp directory?

StartAppContainer.cpp code:

#include <windows.h>
#include <userenv.h>
#include <sddl.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <aclapi.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "userenv.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "advapi32.lib")

bool CreateAppContainerSid(const std::wstring& name, PSID* appContainerSid) {
    HRESULT hr = CreateAppContainerProfile(name.c_str(), name.c_str(), L"Test AppContainer Profile", nullptr, 0, appContainerSid);
    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        HRESULT hr = DeriveAppContainerSidFromAppContainerName(name.c_str(), appContainerSid);
        if (FAILED(hr)) {
            std::wcerr << L"Failed to derive AppContainer SID. Creating profile..." << std::endl;
            return false;
        }
        else
		{
			std::wcout << L"AppContainer SID derived successfully." << std::endl;
		}
    }
    else
    {
		std::wcout << L"AppContainer profile created successfully." << std::endl;
    }

    return true;
}

bool CreatePipes(HANDLE& readOut, HANDLE& writeOut) {
    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES saAttr = {};
    saAttr.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
    saAttr.bInheritHandle = TRUE;
    saAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = nullptr;

    if (!CreatePipe(&readOut, &writeOut, &saAttr, 0)) {
        std::cerr << "Stdout pipe creation failed\n";
        return false;
    }

    if (!SetHandleInformation(readOut, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0)) {
        std::cerr << "Stdout SetHandleInformation failed\n";
        return false;
    }

    return true;
}

void ReadFromPipe(HANDLE readHandle) {
    CHAR buffer[4096];
    DWORD bytesRead;
    while (ReadFile(readHandle, buffer, sizeof(buffer) - 1, &bytesRead, nullptr) && bytesRead > 0) {
        buffer[bytesRead] = '\0';
        std::cout << buffer;
    }
}

bool GrantAccessToPathForAppContainer(const std::wstring& path, PSID appContainerSid, DWORD accessMask) {
    EXPLICIT_ACCESSW ea = {};
    ea.grfAccessPermissions = accessMask;
    ea.grfAccessMode = GRANT_ACCESS;
    ea.grfInheritance = OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE | CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE;
	ea.Trustee.MultipleTrusteeOperation = NO_MULTIPLE_TRUSTEE;
    ea.Trustee.pMultipleTrustee = nullptr;
    ea.Trustee.TrusteeForm = TRUSTEE_IS_SID;
    ea.Trustee.TrusteeType = TRUSTEE_IS_GROUP;
    ea.Trustee.ptstrName = (LPWSTR)appContainerSid;

    PACL oldDacl = nullptr, newDacl = nullptr;
    PSECURITY_DESCRIPTOR sd = nullptr;

    DWORD result = GetNamedSecurityInfoW(
        path.c_str(), SE_FILE_OBJECT,
        DACL_SECURITY_INFORMATION,
        nullptr, nullptr, &oldDacl, nullptr, &sd);

    if (result != ERROR_SUCCESS) {
        std::wcerr << L"Failed to get security info for: " << path << L" Error: " << result << "\n";
        return false;
    }

    result = SetEntriesInAclW(1, &ea, oldDacl, &newDacl);
    if (result != ERROR_SUCCESS) {
        std::wcerr << L"SetEntriesInAclW failed: " << result << "\n";
        if (sd) LocalFree(sd);
        return false;
    }

    result = SetNamedSecurityInfoW(
        (LPWSTR)path.c_str(), SE_FILE_OBJECT,
        DACL_SECURITY_INFORMATION,
        nullptr, nullptr, newDacl, nullptr);

    if (result != ERROR_SUCCESS) {
        std::wcerr << L"SetNamedSecurityInfoW failed: " << result << "\n";
    }

	std::wcout << "Updated ACL for " << path << L" with AppContainer SID\n";

    if (sd) LocalFree(sd);
    if (newDacl) LocalFree(newDacl);

    return result == ERROR_SUCCESS;
}

std::wstring GetLastErrorMessage(DWORD errorCode = GetLastError()) {
    LPWSTR buffer = nullptr;
    DWORD size = FormatMessageW(
        FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
        nullptr,
        errorCode,
        MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
        (LPWSTR)&buffer,
        0,
        nullptr);

    std::wstring message(buffer, size);
    LocalFree(buffer);
    return message;
}

int wmain(int argc, wchar_t* argv[]) {
    if (argc < 2) {
        std::wcerr << L"Usage: AppContainerLauncher.exe <command line>\n";
        return 1;
    }

    std::vector<std::pair<std::wstring, DWORD>> accessRequests;
    std::vector<std::wstring> commandParts;
    std::wstring appExe;

    for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i) {
        std::wstring arg = argv[i];
        if (arg == L"--grant-read" && i + 1 < argc) {
            accessRequests.emplace_back(argv[++i], FILE_GENERIC_READ | FILE_GENERIC_EXECUTE | GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_EXECUTE);
        }
        else if (arg == L"--grant-write" && i + 1 < argc) {
            accessRequests.emplace_back(argv[++i], FILE_ALL_ACCESS | GENERIC_ALL);
        }
        else {
            commandParts.emplace_back(arg);
        }
    }

    if (commandParts.empty()) {
        std::wcerr << L"No command provided.\n";
        return 1;
    }

    std::wstring commandLine;
	for (const auto& part : commandParts) {
		commandLine += part + L" ";
	}
	if (commandParts.size() > 0)
	    appExe = commandParts[0];

    std::wstring containerName = L"TestPythonAppContainer";
    PSID appContainerSid = nullptr;
    if (!CreateAppContainerSid(containerName, &appContainerSid)) {
        return 1;
    }

    for (const auto& p : accessRequests) {
        GrantAccessToPathForAppContainer(p.first, appContainerSid, p.second);
    }

    HANDLE readOut, writeOut;
    if (!CreatePipes(readOut, writeOut)) {
        return 1;
    }

    STARTUPINFOEXW siex = {};
    PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = {};
    SIZE_T attrListSize = 0;

    InitializeProcThreadAttributeList(nullptr, 2, 0, &attrListSize);
    siex.lpAttributeList = (LPPROC_THREAD_ATTRIBUTE_LIST)HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, attrListSize);
    if (!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList(siex.lpAttributeList, 2, 0, &attrListSize)) {
        std::cerr << "InitializeProcThreadAttributeList failed\n";
        return 1;
    }

    SECURITY_CAPABILITIES sc = { };
	sc.AppContainerSid = appContainerSid;
	sc.Capabilities = nullptr;
    sc.CapabilityCount = 0;
    sc.Reserved = 0;
    if (!UpdateProcThreadAttribute(siex.lpAttributeList, 0,
        PROC_THREAD_ATTRIBUTE_SECURITY_CAPABILITIES,
        &sc,
        sizeof(SECURITY_CAPABILITIES), nullptr, nullptr)) {
        std::cerr << "UpdateProcThreadAttribute failed\n";
        return 1;
    }

    HANDLE inheritHandles[] = { writeOut }; // Only pass the write end to the child
	if (!UpdateProcThreadAttribute(siex.lpAttributeList, 0,
		PROC_THREAD_ATTRIBUTE_HANDLE_LIST,
		inheritHandles,
		sizeof(inheritHandles), nullptr, nullptr)) {
		std::cerr << "UpdateProcThreadAttribute failed\n";
		return 1;
	}

    siex.StartupInfo.cb = sizeof(siex);
    siex.StartupInfo.hStdOutput = writeOut;
    siex.StartupInfo.hStdError = writeOut;
    siex.StartupInfo.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;

    BOOL success = CreateProcessW(
        nullptr,
        &commandLine[0],
        nullptr,
        nullptr,
        TRUE,
        EXTENDED_STARTUPINFO_PRESENT | CREATE_NO_WINDOW,
        nullptr,
        nullptr,
        &siex.StartupInfo,
        &pi
    );

    CloseHandle(writeOut); // The child process now owns the write end

    if (!success) {
        DWORD err = GetLastError();
        std::wcerr << L"CreateProcess failed (" << err << L"): " << GetLastErrorMessage(err) << "\n";
        return 1;
    }

    ReadFromPipe(readOut);

    WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, INFINITE);

    CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
    CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
    CloseHandle(readOut);
    if (appContainerSid) {
        FreeSid(appContainerSid);
    }
    DeleteProcThreadAttributeList(siex.lpAttributeList);
    HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, siex.lpAttributeList);

    return 0;
}

CPython versions tested on:

3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Windows

Linked PRs

Activity

  1. added
    stdlibStandard Library Python modules in the Lib/ directory
    on May 23, 2025
  2. alervd commented on Nov 14, 2025

    @alervd

    We're affected too. Any plans on fixing this issue?

  3. DiPaolo commented on Mar 31, 2026

    @DiPaolo
    Contributor

    Same for me. We use pytest's basetemp. And the behavior is the same: newly created directory has no appropriate rights for writing. All the same works well with python 3.11.9

    Regular python's mkdir() has the same invalid behavior - no access.

  4. added a commit that references this issue on Apr 16, 2026
  5. peilinchen98 commented on Oct 13, 2026

    @peilinchen98

    Another environment hit by the same change: write-restricted tokens (not only AppContainer).

    Setup. Windows 11, Python 3.14.7 and 3.11.16 (both show the same result). Commands run inside the OpenAI Codex CLI Windows sandbox (unelevated mode), which launches processes with CreateRestrictedToken(..., WRITE_RESTRICTED, ...). Write access is then granted only where the folder's DACL allows one of the restricting SIDs (per-workspace capability SIDs), which the workspace folder grants with inheritance.

    Repro (run inside the restricted-token process, in a writable workspace folder):

    import os, tempfile, pathlib
    os.mkdir("a")                         # default mode -> inherits parent DACL
    open("a/f.txt", "w").write("ok")      # works
    os.mkdir("b", 0o700)                  # protected DACL: owner, SYSTEM, Administrators only
    open("b/f.txt", "w").write("x")       # PermissionError [Errno 13]
    os.listdir("b")                       # PermissionError [WinError 5]
    d = tempfile.mkdtemp(dir=".")         # same as "b"
    pathlib.Path("c").mkdir(mode=0o700)   # same as "b"

    The folder is created, but the restricting capability SID is not in the new protected DACL, so the write-restricted token can neither write into nor list it. TemporaryDirectory() cleanup then fails at the listing / attribute-reset step. pytest's tmp_path (which uses 0o700 throughout _pytest/tmpdir.py, including with --basetemp) fails at fixture setup with WinError 5. os.makedirs and default-mode os.mkdir are unaffected.

    Relation to the open PR. As far as I can tell from its title, gh-148804 targets the AppContainer case. I have not checked whether its approach also adds the restricting SIDs of a write-restricted token; if it does not, this case would remain. A fix that keeps the CVE-2024-4030 protection but preserves inherited ACEs for the token's restricting/capability SIDs (or an opt-out) would cover both.

    Workaround we use, in case it helps others: a sitecustomize.py that, behind an opt-in environment variable, maps mode=0o700 to the default mode on Windows so new folders inherit the parent DACL, plus pointing TMPDIR/TEMP/TMP at a fresh folder inside the workspace. This deliberately gives up the 0o700 protection, so it is only for sandboxed test runs.

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