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Mallory
Critical

Docker Engine AuthZ plugin bypass via Content-Length: 0 request body omission

IdentifiersCVE-2024-41110CWE-863· Incorrect Authorization

CVE-2024-41110 is a regression vulnerability in Docker Engine (Moby) affecting deployments that use authorization plugins (AuthZ) to make access-control decisions based on request and/or response bodies. By sending a specially crafted Docker Engine API request with a declared Content-Length of 0 while still including a body, an Engine API client can cause the daemon to forward the request or response to the authorization plugin without the body. The daemon, however, still processes the actual body. As a result, an authorization plugin that would have denied the operation after inspecting the body may instead allow it because the body is absent from the plugin’s view. The issue was originally discovered and fixed in Docker Engine v18.09.1 in January 2019, but that fix was not carried forward into later major versions, resulting in a regression identified again in 2024.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can bypass Docker authorization controls enforced by AuthZ plugins, enabling unauthorized Docker API actions. Depending on the plugin policy and requested operation, this can lead to privilege escalation, including creation of containers with disallowed or more privileged settings, and other unauthorized administrative actions through the Docker API. Impact is limited to environments that rely on AuthZ plugins which inspect request or response bodies for policy decisions; deployments not using such plugins are not affected.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, avoid using AuthZ plugins that depend on request or response body inspection for security decisions, and restrict access to the Docker API to trusted parties only. Enforce least privilege on Docker API access. The content also notes that Mirantis Container Runtime and Docker EE v19.03.x are not vulnerable.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade Docker Engine to a patched release. The provided content states docker-ce v27.1.1 contains patches, and patches were merged into the master, 19.03, 20.0, 23.0, 24.0, 25.0, 26.0, and 26.1 release branches. The GHSA-derived advisory in the content lists fixed versions including 23.0.15, 25.0.6, 26.1.5, and 27.1.1, depending on branch. Apply the vendor-provided fixed version appropriate to the deployed release line as soon as possible.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 1 candidate as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.

VALID 0 / 1 TOTALView more in app

All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
DockerMobyapplication

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What this page doesn’t show

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

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Social activity3

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