CVE-2021-41092 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/docker/cli. A fix is available for github.com/docker/cli — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Docker CLI leaks private registry credentials to registry-1.docker.io
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-41092 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/docker/cliReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Docker CLI is the command line interface for the docker container runtime. A bug was found in the Docker CLI where running docker login my-private-registry.example.com with a misconfigured configuration file (typically ~/.docker/config.json) listing a credsStore or credHelpers that could not be executed would result in any provided credentials being sent to registry-1.docker.io rather than the intended private registry. This bug has been fixed in Docker CLI 20.10.9. Users should update to this version as soon as possible. For users unable to update ensure that any configured credsStore or credHelpers entries in the configuration file reference an installed credential helper that is executable and on the PATH.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/docker/cli | all versions | 20.10.9go get github.com/docker/cli@v20.10.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/docker/cli, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/docker/cli to 20.10.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-41092 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2021-41092 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2021-41092. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-41092 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2021-41092 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.