GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) CWE-193 vulnerability in github.com/docker/docker. A fix is available for github.com/docker/docker — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Moby has an Off-by-one error in its plugin privilege validation
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9.
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
GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 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 377,166 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/docker🐹github.com/moby/moby/v2🐹github.com/moby/mobyReal-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
Summary
A security vulnerability has been detected that allows plugins privilege validation to be bypassed during docker plugin install. Due to an error in the daemon's privilege comparison logic, the daemon may incorrectly accept a privilege set that differs from the one approved by the user.
Plugins that request exactly one privilege are also affected, because no comparison is performed at all.
Impact
If plugins are not in use, there is no impact.
When a plugin is installed, the daemon computes the privileges required by the plugin's configuration and compares them with the privileges approved during installation. A malicious plugin can exploit this bug so that the daemon accepts privileges that differ from what was intended to be approved.
Anyone who depends on the plugin installation approval flow as a meaningful security boundary is potentially impacted.
Depending on the privilege set involved, this may include highly sensitive plugin permissions such as broad device access.
For consideration: exploitation still requires a plugin to be installed from a malicious source, and Docker plugins are relatively uncommon. Docker Desktop also does not support plugins.
Workarounds
If unable to update immediately:
- Do not install plugins from untrusted sources
- Carefully review all privileges requested during
docker plugin install - Restrict access to the Docker daemon to trusted parties, following the principle of least privilege
- Avoid relying on plugin privilege approval as the only control boundary for sensitive environments
Credits
- Reported by Cody ([email protected], PGP 0x9FA5B73E)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/docker/docker | all versions | No fix |
| 🐹Go | github.com/moby/moby/v2 | all versions | 2.0.0-beta.8go get github.com/moby/moby/v2@v2.0.0-beta.8 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/moby/moby | all versions | No fix |
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/docker, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
No patched version of github.com/docker/docker has shipped for GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
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 GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9. 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.
An important flaw in Moby, an open-source container framework, allows for a privilege validation bypass during `docker plugin install`. This issue stems from an error in the daemon's privilege comparison logic, which could lead to unauthorized privilege escalation for installed plugins. Red Hat products that leverage…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Multicluster Global Hub 1.4.5 | multicluster-globalhub/multicluster-globalhub-grafana-rhel9:1779579439 | RHSA-2026:22347 |
| Multicluster Global Hub 1.6.5 | multicluster-globalhub/multicluster-globalhub-grafana-rhel9:1780167118 | RHSA-2026:23345 |
| Red Hat multicluster global hub 1.5.3 | multicluster-globalhub/multicluster-globalhub-grafana-rhel9:1778867753 | RHSA-2026:21769 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.