A vulnerability was identified in Docker Desktop that allows local running Linux containers to access the Docker Engine API via the configured Docker subnet, at 192.168.65.7:2375 by default. This vulnerability occurs with or without Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI) enabled, and with or without the ‘Expose daemon on tcp://localhost:2375 without TLS’ option enabled. This can lead to execution of a wide range of privileged commands to the engine API, including controlling other containers, creating new ones, and managing images.
Details
| Severity | Base Score | CVE |
|---|---|---|
| CRITICAL | 9.3 | CVE-2025-9074 |
Exploitation
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker with local access to a running Docker Desktop instance can send requests to the Docker Engine API over the configured subnet. This allows the attacker to execute privileged commands, control other containers, and potentially mount the host drive with the same privileges as the user running Docker Desktop.
Affected Products
- Docker Desktop: A desktop application for managing Docker containers on local machines.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users should ensure that the Docker Engine API is not exposed over TCP without TLS. Additionally, enabling Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI) can help reduce the risk of unauthorized access to the Docker Engine API.