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CVE Record

CVE-2020-24263: Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier is affected by an insecure permissions vulnerability that may lead to remote a...

Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier is affected by an insecure permissions vulnerability that may lead to remote arbitrary code execution. A non-admin user is allowed to spawn new containers with critical capabilities such as SYS_MODULE, which can be used to take over the Docker host.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier reportedly lets a non-admin user create containers with dangerous host-level capabilities. If a lower-privileged Portainer account is compromised or misused, the Docker host could be taken over. The source bundle does not provide CVSS, CWE, or a confirmed fixed version.

Executive priority

Treat this as high priority for any Portainer-managed Docker hosts because the stated impact is host takeover from non-admin access. Prioritize exposed management interfaces and shared administration environments first.

Technical view

The CVE describes insecure permissions in Portainer allowing non-admin users to spawn containers with critical Linux capabilities, specifically SYS_MODULE. The stated impact is remote arbitrary code execution and potential Docker host takeover. Evidence is limited to the CVE record and the referenced Portainer GitHub issue.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to Portainer 1.24.1 and earlier, especially deployments where non-admin users can access Portainer-managed Docker environments. Internet-exposed Portainer instances or environments with many delegated users carry higher operational risk.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The described path requires non-admin Portainer access and abuses excessive container capability assignment to affect the Docker host.

Researcher notes

The evidence is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, exploit confirmation, or fixed release is included in the bundle. The key security issue is authorization failure around container capability assignment by non-admin users.

Mitigation direction

  • Check Portainer vendor guidance for the fixed version and upgrade path.
  • Restrict Portainer access to trusted administrators until remediated.
  • Review non-admin roles and remove unnecessary container creation permissions.
  • Limit dangerous container capabilities through platform policy where available.
  • Audit Portainer and Docker host activity for unexpected privileged containers.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory all Portainer instances and confirm their versions.
  • Identify any Portainer deployments at version 1.24.1 or earlier.
  • Review non-admin users who can create or modify containers.
  • Check whether containers were created with critical capabilities such as SYS_MODULE.
  • Confirm remediation against Portainer vendor release guidance.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
3

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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Execution behavior lookup

The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

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description · low confidence lookup

Container behavior lookup

The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2020-24263 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
2Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.