Docker CLI Plugins: Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation on Windows in github.com/docker/cli

Open Source Vulnerabilities BIT-docker-cli-2025-15558

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 29.1.5 and Windows binaries acting as a CLI-plugin manager using the github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/manager https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/docker/[email protected]+incompatible/cli-plugins/manager  package, such as Docker Compose. This issue does not impact non-Windows binaries, and projects not using the plugin-manager code.

Open Source Vulnerabilities GHSA-p436-gjf2-799p

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`](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/docker/[email protected]+incompatible/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

Open Source Vulnerabilities GO-2026-4610

Docker CLI Plugins: Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation on Windows in github.com/docker/cli

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2025-15558

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 29.1.5 and Windows binaries acting as a CLI-plugin manager using the github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/manager https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/docker/[email protected]+incompatible/cli-plugins/manager  package, such as Docker Compose. This issue does not impact non-Windows binaries, and projects not using the plugin-manager code.