Privilege escalation in Docker Engine

CVE-2026-33997

Moby is an open source container framework. Prior to version 29.3.1, a security vulnerability has been detected that allows plugins privilege validation to be bypassed during docker plugin install. Due to an error in the daemon's privilege comparison logic, the daemon may incorrectly accept a privilege set that differs from the one approved by the user. Plugins that request exactly one privilege are also affected, because no comparison is performed at all. This issue has been patched in version 29.3.1.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (42.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 43rd percentile — 42.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-33997: held from 0.004 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.001

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-33997?
CVE-2026-33997 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Docker Engine, classified under Off-by-one Error. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2026-03-31.
How severe is CVE-2026-33997?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.