Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-33997

Docker Engine ≤ 29.3.1

Published
31 March 2026
Modified
10 August 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0039 32th percentile
Risk Priority 51 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33997 is a medium-severity Off-by-one Error (CWE-193) vulnerability in Docker Engine. Its CVSS base score is 6.8 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 32th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-33997 is a vulnerability in Moby, an open source container framework, affecting versions prior to 29.3.1. The issue resides in the daemon's privilege comparison logic during Docker plugin installation, allowing privilege validation to be bypassed. Specifically, the daemon may incorrectly accept a privilege set that differs from the one approved by the user, and plugins requesting exactly one privilege undergo no comparison at all. This flaw is classified under CWE-193 with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.8 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N).

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network without privileges, though it requires high attack complexity and user interaction, such as tricking an administrator into installing a malicious plugin. Successful exploitation enables high-impact confidentiality and integrity violations, potentially allowing the attacker to access sensitive data or modify system configurations through escalated plugin privileges beyond those explicitly approved.

The vulnerability has been patched in Moby version 29.3.1, as detailed in the official release notes and security advisory. Security practitioners should update to this version or later to mitigate the risk, with further technical details available in the GitHub advisory (GHSA-pxq6-2prw-chj9) and release tag (docker-v29.3.1).

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Moby is an open source container framework. Prior to version 29.3.1, 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…

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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. This issue has been patched in version 29.3.1.

CWE(s)
CWE-193CWE-266

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-34040Same product: Docker Engine
CVE-2026-2664Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2023-5165Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2023-40453Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2025-3224Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2023-0628Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2023-0626Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2024-8695Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2024-8696Same vendor: Docker
CVE-2023-0629Same vendor: Docker

Affected Assets

docker
engine
≤ 29.3.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

Least privilege directly requires that only the minimal necessary privileges are assigned to each actor.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover off-by-one errors in loops, bounds, and calculations before deployment.

AC-2 Account Management partial match

Account management defines and authorizes the exact privileges granted to each account or role.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Enforces only the authorizations that were assigned, so correct assignment is a prerequisite.

AC-5 Separation of Duties partial match

Separation of duties constrains which privilege combinations may be assigned to any actor.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can embed bounds-checking and arithmetic-correctness rules that stop off-by-one mistakes at introduction.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 full match
prevents

Directly enforces least-privilege policy definition, management, and review that prevents incorrect privilege assignments.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent off-by-one errors via reviews, static analysis, and testing.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.18 Access rights mostly match
prevents

The access-rights control governs the entire lifecycle of privilege assignment, directly eliminating incorrect assignments.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights mostly match
prevents

Privileged-access-rights control explicitly requires least-privilege assignment and ongoing validation, directly mitigating CWE-266.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect off-by-one errors before release.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access control policy directly prevents incorrect privilege assignment by defining who may receive which rights.

A.5.3 Segregation of duties partial match
mitigates

Segregation of duties reduces blast radius of any single incorrect privilege but does not prevent the assignment itself.

A.8.18 Use of privileged utility programs partial match
mitigates

Restricting privileged utility programs limits exposure from over-privileged accounts but does not address how privileges are assigned.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248551 A sticky bit must be set on all OL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271779 OL 9 must be configured so that a sticky bit must be set on all public directories. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230243 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257929 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 9 public directories. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 22.04 (2 rules)
  • V-260513 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
  • V-260559 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 24.04 (2 rules)
  • V-270748 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
  • V-270750 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266

References