The SwarmKit toolkit 1.12.0 for Docker allows remote authenticated users to cause a…
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Will not fix Red Hat: no fix planned
Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-399 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
The SwarmKit toolkit 1.12.0 for Docker allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (prevention of cluster joins) via a long sequence of join and quit actions. NOTE: the vendor disputes this issue, stating that this sequence is not "removing the state that is left by old nodes. At some point the manager obviously stops being able to accept new nodes, since it runs out of memory. Given that both for Docker swarm and for Docker Swarmkit nodes are *required* to provide a secret token (it's actually the only mode of operation), this means that no adversary can simply join nodes and exhaust manager resources. We can't do anything about a manager running out of memory and not being able to add new legitimate nodes to the system. This is merely a resource provisioning issue, and definitely not a CVE worthy vulnerability.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 3
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2016-6595
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-669g-g3v8-296m
References
Advisory 3
- [oss-security] 20160902 Re: cve request: docker swarmkit Dos occurs by repeatly joining and quitting swam cluster as a node
- [oss-security] 20160804 Re: cve request: docker swarmkit Dos occurs by repeatly joining and quitting swam cluster as a node
- [oss-security] 20160901 Re: cve request: docker swarmkit Dos occurs by repeatly joining and quitting swam cluster as a node
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- TI-2019-10626 In Docker 19.03.x before 19.03.1 linked against the GNU C Library (aka glibc), code… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2014-07591 Docker 1.3.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges via a… CVSS 2.0HIGH 10.0
- TI-2014-00046 Improper input validation in docker.io CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2014-07590 Path traversal vulnerability in Docker before 1.3.3 allows remote attackers to write to… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
Sources
- CVE-2016-6595 · CVE Program
- CVE-2016-6595 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-669g-g3v8-296m · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2016-6595 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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