GHSA-p436-gjf2-799p Docker CLI Plugins: Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation on Windows

• Go github.com/docker/cli: >= 19.03.0, < 29.2.0 → fixed in 29.2.0

This issue affects Docker CLI through 29.1.5 Impact 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 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` package, which is consumed by downstream projects such as Docker Compose. Docker 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. This issue does not impact non-Windows binaries or projects that do not use the plugin manager code. Patches Fixed version starts with 29.2.0 This 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. Workarounds None Resources • Pull request: "cli-plugins/manager: remove legacy system-wide cli-plugin path" (https://github.com/docker/cli/pull/6713) • Patch: https://github.com/docker/cli/commit/13759330b1f7e7cb0d67047ea42c5482548ba7fa.patch Credits Nitesh Surana (niteshsurana.com) of Trend Research of TrendAI