Docker Desktop Enhanced Container Isolation bypass via --use-api-socket CLI flag (Docker Docker Desktop)

CVE-2026-6406
HIGH 8.8

At a glance

Source
NVD
EPSS
EPSS 0.21 % · percentile 11 ()
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
Docker
NVD status
Analyzed

Description

The Docker CLI --use-api-socket flag bypasses Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI) restrictions in Docker Desktop. When ECI is enabled, Docker socket mounts from containers are denied unless explicitly allowed via the admin-settings configuration. However, the --use-api-socket flag adds the Docker socket mount via the HostConfig.Mounts field rather than the HostConfig.Binds field. The ECI enforcement in the Docker Desktop API proxy only inspected Binds, allowing the mount to pass unchecked. This grants a container full access to the Docker Engine socket and, if the host user has logged in to container registries, their authentication credentials. A local attacker with the ability to run Docker CLI commands can exploit this to escape ECI restrictions, access the Docker Engine, and potentially escalate privileges.

Weaknesses (CWE)

  • CWE-863 — Incorrect Authorization

References

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.8CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:HDocker
CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HDocker
CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.8CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XNVD · security@docker.com (Secondary)
CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HNVD · security@docker.com (Secondary)

European references

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
Docker · Docker Desktopaffected 4.41.0 < 4.59.0

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD