Docker 1.3.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges via a crafted (1) image or (2) build in a Dockerfile in an LZMA (.xz) archive, related to the chroot for archive extraction.
In Docker 19.03.x before 19.03.1 linked against the GNU C Library (aka glibc), code injection can occur when the nsswitch facility dynamically loads a library inside a chroot that contains the contents of the container.
An issue was found in Docker before 1.6.0. Some programs and scripts in Docker are downloaded via HTTP and then executed or used in unsafe ways.
Information Exposure Through an Error Message vulnerability in Hitachi RAID Manager Storage Replication Adapter allows remote authenticated users to gain sensitive information. This issue affects: Hitachi RAID Manager Storage Replication Adapter 02.01.04 versions prior to 02.03.02 on Windows; 02.05.00 versions prior to 02.05.01 on Windows and Docker.
The version of docker as released for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras via RHBA-2020:0053 advisory included an incorrect version of runc missing the fix for CVE-2019-5736, which was previously fixed via RHSA-2019:0304. This issue could allow a malicious or compromised container to compromise the container host and other containers running on the same host. This issue only affects docker version 1.13.1-108.git4ef4b30.el7, shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras. Both earlier and later versions are not affected.
The docker packages version docker-1.13.1-108.git4ef4b30.el7 as released for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras via RHBA-2020:0053 (https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2020:0053) included an incorrect version of runc that was missing multiple bug and security fixes. One of the fixes regressed in that update was the fix for CVE-2016-9962, that was previously corrected in the docker packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras via RHSA-2017:0116 (https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0116). The CVE-2020-14300 was assigned to this security regression and it is specific to the docker packages produced by Red Hat. The original issue - CVE-2016-9962 - could possibly allow a process inside container to compromise a process entering container namespace and execute arbitrary code outside of the container. This could lead to compromise of the container host or other containers running on the same container host. This issue only affects a single version of Docker, 1.13.1-108.git4ef4b30, shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Both earlier and later versions are not affected.
OS Command Injection vulnerability in Hitachi RAID Manager Storage Replication Adapter allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary OS commands. This issue affects: Hitachi RAID Manager Storage Replication Adapter 02.01.04 versions prior to 02.03.02 on Windows; 02.05.00 versions prior to 02.05.01 on Windows and Docker.
A problem was reported by Docker Inc. whereby a malicious image could overwrite arbitrary portions of the host filesystem by including absolute symlinks. From the upstream report:
"Path traversal attacks are possible in the processing of absolute symlinks. In checking symlinks for traversals, only relative links were considered. This allowed path traversals to exist where they should have otherwise been prevented. This was exploitable via both archive extraction and through volume mounts.
This vulnerability allowed malicious images or builds from malicious Dockerfiles to write files to the host system and escape containerization, leading to privilege escalation."
Last updated 25 August 2025
Docker Engine before 1.6.1 uses weak permissions for (1) /proc/asound, (2) /proc/timerstats, (3) /proc/latencystats, and (4) /proc/fs, which allows local users to modify the host, obtain sensitive information, and perform protocol downgrade attacks via a crafted image.
In Docker before 18.09.4, an attacker who is capable of supplying or manipulating the build path for the "docker build" command would be able to gain command execution. An issue exists in the way "docker build" processes remote git URLs, and results in command injection into the underlying "git clone" command, leading to code execution in the context of the user executing the "docker build" command. This occurs because git ref can be misinterpreted as a flag.
IBM Security Access Manager Docker could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the system by sending a specially crafted request.
Docker before 1.3 does not properly validate image IDs, which allows remote attackers to redirect to another image through the loading of untrusted images via 'docker load'.
Impact
When using --userns-remap, if the root user in the remapped namespace has access to the host filesystem they can modify files under /var/lib/docker/<remapping> that cause writing files with extended privileges.
Patches
Versions 20.10.3 and 19.03.15 contain patches that prevent privilege escalation from remapped user.
Credits
Maintainers would like to thank Alex Chapman for discovering the vulnerability; @awprice, @nathanburrell, @raulgomis, @chris-walz, @erin-jensby, @bassmatt, @mark-adams, @dbaxa for working on it and Zac Ellis for responsibly disclosing it to security@docker.com
IBM Security Access Manager Appliance could allow a user to impersonate another user on the system.
Docker Desktop Community Edition before 2.1.0.1 allows local users to gain privileges by placing a Trojan horse docker-credential-wincred.exe file in %PROGRAMDATA%\DockerDesktop\version-bin\ as a low-privilege user, and then waiting for an admin or service user to authenticate with Docker, restart Docker, or run 'docker login' to force the command.
This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Docker Desktop. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of the plugins directory path. The product executes a program from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of the target user.
Docker Desktop before 4.5.1 on Windows allows attackers to move arbitrary files. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2022-23774.
Docker before 1.5 allows local users to have unspecified impact via vectors involving unsafe /tmp usage.
Docker Desktop Community before 2.5.0.0 on macOS mishandles certificate checking, leading to local privilege escalation.
libcontainer/user/user.go in runC before 0.1.0, as used in Docker before 1.11.2, improperly treats a numeric UID as a potential username, which allows local users to gain privileges via a numeric username in the password file in a container.
Last updated 25 August 2025
Docker before 1.3.2 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files and execute arbitrary code via a (1) symlink or (2) hard link attack in an image archive in a (a) pull or (b) load operation.
In Docker through 18.06.1-ce-rc2, the API endpoints behind the 'docker cp' command are vulnerable to a symlink-exchange attack with Directory Traversal, giving attackers arbitrary read-write access to the host filesystem with root privileges, because daemon/archive.go does not do archive operations on a frozen filesystem (or from within a chroot).
Docker Engine 1.12.2 enabled ambient capabilities with misconfigured capability policies. This allowed malicious images to bypass user permissions to access files within the container filesystem or mounted volumes.
Docker Engine before 1.8.3 and CS Docker Engine before 1.6.2-CS7 does not properly validate and extract the manifest object from its JSON representation during a pull, which allows attackers to inject new attributes in a JSON object and bypass pull-by-digest validation.
IBM Security Access Manager Docker uses weaker than expected cryptographic algorithms that could allow an attacker to decrypt highly sensitive information.
In Docker CE and EE before 18.09.8 (as well as Docker EE before 17.06.2-ee-23 and 18.x before 18.03.1-ee-10), Docker Engine in debug mode may sometimes add secrets to the debug log. This applies to a scenario where docker stack deploy is run to redeploy a stack that includes (non external) secrets. It potentially applies to other API users of the stack API if they resend the secret.
Docker 1.0.0 uses world-readable and world-writable permissions on the management socket, which allows local users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors.
Libcontainer and Docker Engine before 1.6.1 opens the file-descriptor passed to the pid-1 process before performing the chroot, which allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack in an image.