Vulnerabilities in pkg:golang/github.com/docker/cli

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-p436-gjf2-799p",
  "modified" : "2026-03-31T14:21:14Z",
  "published" : "2026-03-05T00:10:40Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-15558" ],
  "summary" : "Docker CLI Plugins: Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation on Windows",
  "details" : "This issue affects Docker CLI through 29.1.5\n\n### Impact\n\nDocker 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.\n\nThis 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/cli@v29.1.5+incompatible/cli-plugins/manager) package, which is consumed by downstream projects such as Docker Compose.\n\nDocker 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.\n\nThis issue does not impact non-Windows binaries or projects that do not use the plugin manager code.\n\n### Patches\n\nFixed version starts with 29.2.0\n\nThis 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.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nNone\n\n### Resources\n\n- Pull request: \"cli-plugins/manager: remove legacy system-wide cli-plugin path\" (https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/6713)\n- Patch: https://github.com/docker/cli/commit/13759330b1f7e7cb0d67047ea42c5482548ba7fa.patch\n\n### Credits\n\nNitesh Surana (niteshsurana.com) of Trend Research of TrendAI",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "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"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/docker/cli"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "19.03.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "29.2.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/docker/cli/security/advisories/GHSA-p436-gjf2-799p"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-15558"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/6713"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/docker/compose/pull/12300"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/docker/cli/commit/13759330b1f7e7cb0d67047ea42c5482548ba7fa"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.docker.com/desktop/release-notes"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/docker/cli"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-CAN-28304"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-427" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-03-05T00:10:40Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-03-04T17:16:14Z"
  }
}