Information disclosure in Portainer
CVE-2026-44881
Portainer Community Edition is a lightweight service delivery platform for containerized applications that can be used to manage Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes and ACI environments. From 2.33.0 to before 2.33.8, 2.39.2, and 2.41.0, Portainer supports deploying stacks from Git repositories. When a Git-backed stack is created or updated, Portainer clones the repository using go-git v5, which translates Git blob entries with mode 0o120000 (symlink) into real OS symlinks on the host filesystem via os.Symlink. The only entry blocked from becoming a symlink is .gitmodules; every other path is created as a symlink without validation. Portainer's GET /api/stacks/{id}/file endpoint then reads the stack entry point with os.ReadFile, which follows OS symlinks transparently. A repository containing docker-compose.yml as a symlink to an arbitrary filesystem path causes the symlink target's contents to be returned verbatim in the HTTP response. Any authenticated user with rights to create or update a Git-backed stack — the default configuration in Portainer CE — can read arbitrary files accessible to the Portainer process. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.33.8, 2.39.2, and 2.41.0.
EPSS: 0.004 (34.8th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.9 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Portainer — versions 2.40.0, >= 2.39.0, < 2.39.2, >= 2.40.0, < 2.41.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- security-advisories@github.com (x_refsource_CONFIRM, Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-44881?
- CVE-2026-44881 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Portainer, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. CVSS score: 9.9/10. Published 2026-05-28.
- How severe is CVE-2026-44881?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.9 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2026-44881 known to be exploited?
- 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.