Docker CLI Windows Low-Priv PrivEsc via Malicious CLI Plugins (<=29.1.5)
CVE-2025-15558 Published on March 4, 2026

Docker Desktop Docker Plugins Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
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/cli@v29.1.5+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.

Github Repository NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-15558 is exploitable with local system access, requires user interaction and a small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
REQUIRED
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a DLL preloading Vulnerability?

The product uses a fixed or controlled search path to find resources, but one or more locations in that path can be under the control of unintended actors.

CVE-2025-15558 has been classified to as a DLL preloading vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2025-15558

You can be notified by email with stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-15558 are published in these products:

Docker
 
Red Hat Assisted Installer
 
Red Hat Openshift Builds
 
Red Hat Gatekeeper
 
Red Hat Kernel Module Management
 
Red Hat Workload Availability Mdr
 
Red Hat Multicluster Engine
 
Red Hat Multicluster Globalhub
 
Red Hat Openshift Pipelines
 
Red Hat Serverless
 
Red Hat Service Mesh
 
Red Hat Acm
 
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security
 
Red Hat Openshift Ai
 
Red Hat Openshift
 
Red Hat Openshift Devspaces
 
Red Hat Windows Machine Config
 
Red Hat Openshift Gitops
 
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization
 
Red Hat Openstack
 
Red Hat Quay
 
Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer
 
Red Hat Openshift Security Profiles Operator
 
Red Hat Zero Trust Workload Identity Manager
 

Affected Versions

Docker CLI: Docker Compose: Assisted Installer for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 2: Builds for Red Hat OpenShift: Red Hat Gatekeeper 3: Kernel Module Management Operator for Red Hat Openshift: Red Hat Machine Deletion Remediation Operator: Red Hat Multicluster Engine for Kubernetes: Red Hat Multicluster Global Hub: Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines: Red Hat OpenShift Serverless: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4: Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI): Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4: Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces: Red Hat OpenShift for Windows Containers: Red Hat OpenShift GitOps: Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 18.0: Red Hat Quay 3: Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer: Red Hat Security Profiles Operator: Red Hat Zero Trust Workload Identity Manager: Red Hat Zero Trust Workload Identity Manager - Tech Preview:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.43%
Percentile
34.21%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.