CriticalCVE-2019-15752

    Docker Desktop Community Edition Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (CVE-2019-15752)

    Published In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    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.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. Update Docker to version 2.1.0.1. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Docker lt *..2.1.0.1
    • Apache Geode eq 1.12.0..1.12.0
    Fixed in
    • Docker 2.1.0.1

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    48.6 %

    EPSS score

    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 98.9

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    217.19 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploited
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    48.6 %
    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    98.9
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This is a local privilege escalation: an unprivileged user plants a trojanised helper binary and waits for an admin or service to invoke the credential helper. User interaction is required, but the technique is trivial and results in full compromise of the host's confidentiality, integrity and availability. In practice it serves as a post-initial-access step on developer workstations, used to gain admin rights and steal registry credentials that enable supply-chain or CI/CD abuse. Exploitation likelihood is very high, and no ransomware use has been reported. Treat shared systems (VDI, terminal servers, build agents) as top priority; on single-user developer machines, treat it as high priority and patch in an accelerated regular cycle.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory: Enumerate every Windows endpoint running Docker Desktop Community Edition via EDR, software inventory or SCCM/Intune. Any version below 2.1.0.1 is vulnerable.
      • Patch: Upgrade Docker Desktop to 2.1.0.1 or later, preferably straight to the current supported release. Remove stale CE installs where there is no business need.
      • Check integrity before upgrading: Collect and review %PROGRAMDATA%\DockerDesktop\version-bin\ on affected hosts. Verify the hash, Authenticode signer ("Docker Inc"), owner and creation time of docker-credential-wincred.exe. If the binary is unsigned, owned by a standard user, or created outside an install window, treat the host as compromised and isolate it.
      • Freeze privileged Docker use: Until the host is patched, admins and service accounts must not run docker login, restart Docker Desktop, or authenticate to registries on multi-user systems (terminal servers, VDI, jump hosts, shared build machines).
      • Rotate credentials: If a tampered binary is found, rotate all registry credentials and tokens (Docker Hub, Harbor, ACR, ECR, GitLab Registry) on that host. Also reset the accounts of any admins who logged on there.
      • Apache Geode note: The context also lists apache geode 1.12.0 as affected. Verify this mapping with the vendor. Patch available from the vendor — check the vendor advisory for the fixed version.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Configuration / filesystem ACLs: Remove write access for BUILTIN\Users and Authenticated Users on C:\ProgramData\DockerDesktop\version-bin\, allowing only SYSTEM and Administrators. Example: icacls "C:\ProgramData\DockerDesktop\version-bin" /inheritance:r /grant:r SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F Administrators:(OI)(CI)F /grant:r Users:(OI)(CI)RX. Enforce and verify via a GPO or Intune compliance script.
      • Application control (endpoint hardening): Use a WDAC or AppLocker publisher rule so only binaries signed by "Docker Inc" can execute from %PROGRAMDATA%\DockerDesktop\. Block unsigned EXEs in that path.
      • IAM / least privilege: Allow Docker Desktop only on single-user workstations and uninstall it from shared systems. Admins should never run privileged Docker sessions on machines where standard users also log on.
      • Credential store configuration: Review credsStore and credHelpers in %USERPROFILE%\.docker\config.json. Privileged users should avoid docker login on unpatched hosts until the ACL hardening is confirmed.
      • Network segmentation: Place developer workstations with Docker Desktop in a dedicated segment. Restrict outbound registry traffic to approved registries to make it harder to exfiltrate harvested tokens.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Sysmon EID 11 (FileCreate): Alert on file creation where TargetFilename is under \ProgramData\DockerDesktop\version-bin\ and User is neither NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM nor an installer context. Sigma shape: TargetFilename|contains: '\DockerDesktop\version-bin\' AND NOT User|contains: 'SYSTEM'.
      • Sysmon EID 1 / Security 4688 (process creation): Look for docker-credential-wincred.exe with an unexpected signer or unknown hash. Suspicion increases when the parent is docker.exe or com.docker.service running as an admin or SYSTEM, or when it spawns children such as cmd.exe, powershell.exe or net.exe. KQL: DeviceProcessEvents | where FileName =~ "docker-credential-wincred.exe" | where FolderPath has "version-bin" | where ProcessVersionInfoCompanyName !~ "Docker Inc."
      • Sysmon EID 7 / code integrity: Watch for unsigned images loaded from version-bin. Where WDAC or AppLocker is enforced, also monitor Microsoft-Windows-CodeIntegrity 3077 and AppLocker 8004.
      • Security 4663 (object access): Set a SACL on version-bin for write and delete operations. Alert on any write by a non-admin.
      • Follow-on activity: Flag new account creation (4720) or additions to local Administrators (4732) shortly after a Docker restart or docker login on the same host.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    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.

    Source: NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    apachegeode
    • 1.12.0
    • —
    dockerdocker
    • < 2.1.0.1
    • 2.1.0.1

    Vendors and products

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited
    Packet StormDocker Credential Wincred.exe Privilege Escalation (opens in a new tab)packetstormsecurity.comPoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified—

    References & sources

    • medium.com@morgan.henry.roman/elevation-of-privilege-in-docker-for-window…x_refsource_MISC, Exploit, Third-party advisory
    • packetstormsecurity.comfiles/157404/Docker-Credential-Wincred.exe-Privilege-Escalation…x_refsource_MISC, Exploit, Third-party advisory, Vulnerability database
    • lists.apache.org[geode-issues] 20200831 [jira] [Created] (GEODE-8471) Dependency security issues in geode-core-1.12Mailing list, x_refsource_MLIST, Mailing list
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-15752government-resource, US government resource
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