Docker Desktop for Windows before 4.6 allows attackers to overwrite any file through the windowscontainers/start dockerBackendV2 API by con…

published 2023-04-27 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-41297

cvss: 6.3; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.3%; EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 21%
public exploits: 0; none known

Docker Desktop for Windows before 4.6 allows attackers to overwrite any file through the windowscontainers/start dockerBackendV2 API by controlling the data-root field inside the DaemonJSON field in the WindowsContainerStartRequest class. This allows exploiting a symlink vulnerability in ..\dataRoot\network\files\local-kv.db because of a TOCTOU race condition.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

docker desktop 4.6.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 21 mo ago (2025-01-31)

Exploit prediction

0.29% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 21% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CISA ADP	3.1	6.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
NVD	3.1	6.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
CNA	3.1	6.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Classification

Weakness

CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access
CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

Technology feeds

Docker rss critical rss

References

docs.docker.com /desktop/release-notes/#docker-desktop-460
release-notes
cyberark.com /resources/threat-research-blog/breaking-docker-named-pipes-systematically-docker-desktop-privilege-escalation
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2022-38730
NVD CVE-2022-38730

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary