CVE-2026-44848: Portainer: Missing authorization on Docker plugin endpoints allows host RCE

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-05-28 · updated 2026-07-21
Weakness: CWE-862

Description

Portainer Community Edition is a lightweight service delivery platform for containerized applications that can be used to manage Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes and ACI environments. From 2.33.0 to before 2.33.8, 2.39.2, and 2.41.0, The Docker plugin management endpoints (/plugins/*) were not registered with a handler, so standard users with endpoint access could call privileged plugin operations — including installing and enabling plugins — directly against the underlying Docker daemon. The vulnerability is exposed when a non-admin Portainer user (Standard User role, or any role granted endpoint-level access) has been given access to a Docker endpoint via Portainer RBAC. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.33.8, 2.39.2, and 2.41.0.

Affected products

portainer: from 2.33.0 before 2.33.8; from 2.34.0 before 2.39.2; 2.40.0 — fixed in 2.33.8, 2.39.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: portainer 2.33.8, 2.39.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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