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PortainerApplication

CVE-2020-24264

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.24.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier is affected by incorrect access control that may lead to remote arbitrary code execution. The restriction checks for bind mounts are applied only on the client-side and not the server-side, which can lead to spawning a container with bind mount. Once such a container is spawned, it can be leveraged to break out of the container leading to complete Docker host machine takeover.

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 confidence

Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier fails to enforce bind mount restrictions server-side during container creation. The access control is only applied client-side, allowing an authenticated user to create a container with a bind mount. This can be exploited to escape the container and achieve full Docker host compromise.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Portainer. In the interim, limit which users can create containers and apply network segmentation to reduce the attack surface.

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
PortainerApplication
Affected:<= 1.24.1

CVSS 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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Portainer version
    Navigate to Portainer UI > About page, or query the Portainer API endpoint (e.g., GET /api/system/status) to retrieve the version string
    Affected if The displayed version is 1.24.1 or earlier
  2. Verify if container creation is enabled for non-admin users
    In Portainer UI, go to Users or Teams settings and check if any non-administrator users have the 'Container' > 'Create' permission enabled
    Affected if Non-admin users can create containers, providing the attack surface for this vulnerability
  3. Confirm bind mount restrictions are enforced server-side
    As a non-admin user with container creation rights, attempt to create a container via Portainer API with a host bind mount (specify 'Binds' in container config) and observe if the request is rejected or allowed
    Affected if The request to create a container with a host bind mount succeeds (is not blocked server-side), indicating the vulnerability is present
  4. Audit existing containers for unauthorized bind mounts
    Use Docker CLI: 'docker ps -a --format "{{.ID}} {{.Names}}"' followed by 'docker inspect <container_id>' to check for containers with host paths mounted (look for 'Binds' in Mounts section)
    Affected if Any containers exist with host directory bind mounts created by non-admin Portainer users

A user is affected if their Portainer version is 1.24.1 or earlier AND non-admin users can create containers, allowing them to bypass bind mount restrictions and potentially escape to the host.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.24.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of Portainer. In the interim, limit which users can create containers and apply network segmentation to reduce the attack surface.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Portainer 2.x (or 1.24.2 if remaining on 1.x branch)

  1. 1. Back up your current Portainer deployment and configuration data
  2. 2. Stop the current Portainer container: `docker stop portainer`
  3. 3. Pull the latest stable Portainer release (version 2.x is recommended as it includes security fixes): `docker pull portainer/portainer-ce:latest`
  4. 4. Remove the old Portainer container: `docker rm portainer`
  5. 5. Deploy the new Portainer container with the same configuration options you previously used
  6. 6. Verify that Portainer starts successfully and is accessible
  7. 7. Test that bind mount restrictions are now enforced server-side (try to create a container with a bind mount and verify it is rejected)
Caveat Upgrading from Portainer 1.x to 2.x may require migration of existing settings and has UI changes; review Portainer migration documentation before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Portainer Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-24264 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data