Elevation of Privilege in Docker Desktop for Windows during Upgrade due to Insecure Directory Deletion

published 2025-04-28 18 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2025-14218

cvss: 7.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.2%; EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 16%
public exploits: 0; none known

A vulnerability in the update process of Docker Desktop for Windows versions prior to 4.41.0 could allow a local, low-privileged attacker to escalate privileges to SYSTEM. During an update, Docker Desktop attempts to delete files and subdirectories under the path C:\ProgramData\Docker\config with high privileges. However, this directory often does not exist by default, and C:\ProgramData\ allows normal users to create new directories. By creating a malicious Docker\config folder structure at this location, an attacker can force the privileged update process to delete or manipulate arbitrary system files, leading to Elevation of Privilege.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

Docker Docker Desktop 4.41.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 18 mo ago (2025-04-28)

Exploit prediction

0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	7.3	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
CNA	4.0	7.3	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Docker Docker Desktop

Classification

Weakness

CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management
CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

Technology feeds

Docker rss critical rss

References

zerodayinitiative.com /blog/2022/3/16/abusing-arbitrary-file-deletes-to-escalate-privilege-and-other-great-tricks
technical-description

Sources

CVE List CVE-2025-3224
NVD CVE-2025-3224

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.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.

Summary