CVE-2019-16872
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedPortainer before 1.22.1 has Incorrect Access Control (issue 1 of 4).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidencePortainer versions before 1.22.1 contain an Incorrect Access Control vulnerability (one of four access control issues in this disclosure). Given the critical CVSS score of 9.9, this vulnerability likely allows unauthorized users to bypass authentication or authorization checks to access restricted administrative functions, container management, or sensitive operational data within the Portainer interface.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 1.22.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Portainer versionAccess the Portainer web interface and navigate to the 'About' or 'Settings' section to view the installed version number. Alternatively, check the Docker container logs using 'docker logs <container_name>' or inspect the container metadata.Affected if The displayed version is below 1.22.1 (for example, 1.22.0, 1.21.0, 1.20.0, etc.)
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Verify network exposureDetermine if the Portainer web interface is accessible over the network by checking your Docker run command or docker-compose configuration for port mappings (such as -p 9000:9000) and whether binding is to 0.0.0.0 or a specific IP.Affected if Portainer is exposed to untrusted networks without proper firewall restrictions on port 9000 or the configured Portainer port
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Test for authentication bypassAttempt to access Portainer endpoints directly via API or web interface without providing credentials. Try common paths such as /api/users or /api/endpoints without an auth token.Affected if The system responds with valid data or allows access to restricted endpoints without authentication tokens or valid login credentials
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Check for unauthorized user accountsLog into Portainer as an administrator and navigate to the Users section to review all registered accounts. Look for unexpected or unknown users that may indicate prior exploitation.Affected if Unknown or unauthorized user accounts exist in the Portainer user database that were not created by legitimate administrators
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Review container and endpoint accessAs an administrator, examine the Endpoints and Containers views to identify if any containers or endpoints were created or modified by users without proper authorization. Check logs for failed authentication attempts.Affected if There are containers, endpoints, or configurations that were created without admin knowledge or from unknown IP addresses
A system is affected if Portainer version is below 1.22.1 and the interface is network-accessible, allowing potential unauthorized access to administrative functions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped1.22.1
Upgrade Portainer to version 1.22.1 or later. After upgrading, verify that role-based access controls are functioning correctly and that unauthorized access is no longer possible.
Portainer 1.22.1
- Backup your Portainer data (volumes) before upgrading
- Stop the existing Portainer container
- Pull the updated Portainer image (version 1.22.1 or later)
- Remove the old Portainer container
- Start a new Portainer container using the new image with the same volume mounts that were used previously
- Verify the upgrade was successful by logging into the Portainer UI and checking the version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16872 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-16872 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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