CopyEscape Docker Vulnerability Lets Malicious Containers Overwrite Host Files and Gain Root
Brief
A newly disclosed Docker vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-17106 and nicknamed “CopyEscape,” allows malicious containers to overwrite files on the host machine and, in certain configurations, achieve full root code execution.
The flaw was discovered by the Imperva Red Team and affects the widely used docker cp command, along with the related sbx cp command used in Docker Sandboxes for AI-agent workflows.
If exploited, CopyEscape allows a malicious container to escape its isolated environment, write or overwrite arbitrary files on the client host, and, under specific conditions on Linux, achieve root-level code execution.
CopyEscape Docker Vulnerability Enables Root Access
The vulnerability lives inside Docker’s archive pipeline, the mechanism that moves files between a container and the host machine. When a user runs a simple command like docker cp container:/path/to/file. txt .