CVE-2025-15558

Severity CVSS v4.0:

HIGH

Type:

CWE-427 Uncontrolled Search Path Element

Publication date:

04/03/2026

Last modified:

09/03/2026

Description

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.<br /> <br /> 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/cli@v29.1.5+incompatible/cli-plugins/manager package, such as Docker Compose.<br /> <br /> This issue does not impact non-Windows binaries, and projects not using the plugin-manager code.

Impact

Vector 4.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/AU:N/R:U CVSS v4.0 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 7.00 HIGH
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/AU:N/R:U

Attack Vector (AV): Local
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Attack Requirements (AT): None
Privileges Required (PR): Low
User Interaction (UI): Passsive
Confidentiality (VC): High
Integrity (VI): High
Availability (VA): High
Confidentiality (SC): None
Integrity (SI): None
Availability (SA): None
Automatable (AU): No
Recovery (R): User

Base Score 4.0

7.00

Severity 4.0

HIGH

Vector 3.x

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS v3.1 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 8.00 HIGH
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Privileges Required (PR): Low
User Interaction (UI): Required
Scope (S): Unchanged
Confidentiality (C): High
Integrity (I): High
Availability (A): High