CVE-2026-5843

Docker Model Runner container-to-host code execution via MLX-LM model_file importlib loading

State
Published
Severity
8.8 High
Published
May 22, 2026
Updated
May 27, 2026
Reserved
Apr 8, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
4.08.8 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:HDocker
3.18.2 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HDocker

Weaknesses

  • CWE-829 Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere

Affected Products

ProductVersions
Docker DesktopDocker
  • 4.56.0 to before 4.71.0Affected

References

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