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GHSA-p436-gjf2-799p

HighCVSS 7 / 10
Published Mar 5, 2026·Last modified Mar 31, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

This issue affects Docker CLI through 29.1.5

Impact

Docker CLI for Windows searches for plugin binaries in C:\ProgramData\Docker\cli-plugins, a directory that does not exist by default. A low-privileged attacker can create this directory and place malicious CLI plugin binaries (docker-compose.exe, docker-buildx.exe, etc.) that are executed when a victim user opens Docker Desktop or invokes Docker CLI plugin features, and allow privilege-escalation if the docker CLI is executed as a privileged user.

This issue affects Docker CLI through v29.1.5 (fixed in v29.2.0). It impacts Windows binaries acting as a CLI plugin manager via the github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/manager package, which is consumed by downstream projects such as Docker Compose.

Docker Compose became affected starting in v2.31.0, when it incorporated the relevant CLI plugin manager code (see https://github.com/docker/compose/pull/12300), and is fixed in v5.1.0.

This issue does not impact non-Windows binaries or projects that do not use the plugin manager code.

Patches

Fixed version starts with 29.2.0

This issue was fixed in https://github.com/docker/cli/commit/13759330b1f7e7cb0d67047ea42c5482548ba7fa (https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/6713), which removed %PROGRAMDATA%\Docker\cli-plugins from the list of paths used for plugin-discovery on Windows.

Workarounds

None

Resources

  • Pull request: "cli-plugins/manager: remove legacy system-wide cli-plugin path" (https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/6713)
  • Patch: https://github.com/docker/cli/commit/13759330b1f7e7cb0d67047ea42c5482548ba7fa.patch

Credits

Nitesh Surana (niteshsurana.com) of Trend Research of TrendAI

Risk Scores
Base Score
7.0

The vulnerability requires local access to the device to be exploited. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges.

Threat Intelligence
4.0

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
0.47%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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