SwarmKit: Unintended Proxy or Intermediary
CVE-2026-115539 is a high-severity unintended proxy or intermediary vulnerability in SwarmKit from Moby, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 7.7 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. The record lists version 2.1.3 as the first without the flaw, so updating SwarmKit to that release or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Update SwarmKit to 2.1.3 or a later version.
- Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moby | SwarmKit | before 2.1.3; 1.12.1-0.20220307221335-616e8db4c3b0 and later | 2.1.3 |
| Docker | Docker Engine | 23.0.0 and later | Not stated |
| Moby | Moby | 2.0.0-beta.28 and earlier | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Attack requirements
- PresentThe target must be in a specific state or configuration for the attack to work.
- Privileges required
- LowA basic user account is enough.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
- Confidentiality (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Integrity (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Availability (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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. Scored by CNA (docker.com).
Official description
SwarmKit's Cluster-API proxy can overwrite a forwarded client's TLS identity with an intermediary manager's identity. WithMetadataForwardTLSInfo replaces outgoing metadata with a copy of the incoming metadata, discarding the redirect guard's changes when built with grpc-go 1.39 or later. During a short window after a leader change, two proxy hops through managers with inconsistent views of the leader can allow an attacker possessing a valid worker node TLS certificate and private key to obtain a manager node certificate for the attacker's own key, escalating privileges from worker to manager. Applications built with an affected SwarmKit version and grpc-go 1.39 or later are impacted.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Unintended Proxy or Intermediary
The product receives a request, message, or directive from an upstream component, but the product does not sufficiently preserve the original source of the request before forwarding the request to an external actor that is outside of the product's control sphere.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Enforce the use of strong mutual authentication mechanism between the two parties.
- Whenever a product is an intermediary or proxy for transactions between two other components, the proxy core should not drop the identity of the initiator of the transaction. The immutability of the identity of the initiator must be maintained and should be forwarded all the way to the target.
More Unintended Proxy or Intermediary vulnerabilities (CWE-441)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Recent Unintended Proxy or Intermediary vulnerabilities
- 8.8 High severity
- 8.4 High severity
- 8.4 High severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 8.2 High severity
- 9.9 Critical severity
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