Root host access via mismatched path normalization
Published Aug 11, 2026 · Updated Aug 11, 2026
Authentication bypass in Portainer Community Edition 2.39.0 through 2.44.0 allows remote authenticated users to gain Docker host root access. ProxyDockerRequest strips only two-component API versions when authorizing a normalized path, then forwards the original crafted path to Docker. A non-administrator account with access to one Docker environment can use a three-component prefix or encoded separator to skip every handler and read or alter host resources.
Summary
What happened
Authentication bypass in Portainer Community Edition 2.39.0 through 2.44.0 allows remote authenticated users to gain Docker host root access. ProxyDockerRequest strips only two-component API versions when authorizing a normalized path, then forwards the original crafted path to Docker. A non-administrator account with access to one Docker environment can use a three-component prefix or encoded separator to skip every handler and read or alter host resources.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72533
- Published
- Aug 11, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 11, 2026
- Vendor
- Portainer
- Product
- Portainer Community Edition
- Classifications
- CWE-180, CWE-862, CWE-287, T1611
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 11, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=2.44.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Portainer Docker API proxy bypass demonstrationproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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