CVE-2019-15752

HIGH KEV

Docker Desktop Community Edition < 2.1.0.1 - Privilege Escalation via Trojan Horse docker-credential-wincred.exe

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

CVE-2019-15752 is actively exploited and listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added November 3, 2021. EIP tracks 2 public exploits from researchers including Metasploit, Morgan Roman, bwatters-r7, including a Metasploit module exploits/windows/local/docker_credential_wincred.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This Metasploit module exploits CVE-2019-15752, a privilege escalation vulnerability in Docker Desktop for Windows. It writes a malicious payload to a low-privilege directory, which is then executed by the Docker service upon user login, achieving local privilege escalation.

Description

Docker Desktop Community Edition before 2.1.0.1 allows local users to gain privileges by placing a Trojan horse docker-credential-wincred.exe file in %PROGRAMDATA%\DockerDesktop\version-bin\ as a low-privilege user, and then waiting for an admin or service user to authenticate with Docker, restart Docker, or run 'docker login' to force the command.

Exploits (2)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Metasploit · rubylocalwindows
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/48388

This Metasploit module exploits CVE-2019-15752, a privilege escalation vulnerability in Docker Desktop for Windows. It writes a malicious payload to a low-privilege directory, which is then executed by the Docker service upon user login, achieving local privilege escalation.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Docker Desktop for Windows < 2.1.0.1
Auth required
Prerequisites: Local access to the target system · Docker Desktop for Windows < 2.1.0.1 installed · User with sufficient privileges to write to the target directory
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
metasploit WORKING POC MANUAL
by Morgan Roman, bwatters-r7 · rubypoc
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/windows/local/docker_credential_wincred.rb

This Metasploit module exploits CVE-2019-15752, a privilege escalation vulnerability in Docker Desktop for Windows. It writes a malicious payload to a low-privilege directory, which is then executed by the Docker service at login, allowing local privilege escalation.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Docker Desktop for Windows < 2.1.0.1
Auth required
Prerequisites: Local access to a vulnerable Docker Desktop installation · User interaction (login) to trigger payload execution
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 19, 2026 Full analysis →

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8
EPSS 0.4518
EPSS Percentile 97.7%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation active
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CISA KEV 2021-11-03
VulnCheck KEV 2021-11-03
InTheWild.io 2021-07-23
ENISA EUVD EUVD-2019-6687
CWE
CWE-732
Status published
Products (2)
apache/geode 1.12.0
docker/docker < 2.1.0.1
Published Aug 28, 2019
KEV Added Nov 03, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026