CODE RED • CI/CD SUPPLY CHAIN ATTACK

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CRITICAL: Docker Flaw (CVE-2025-62725) Allows Full Server Hijack. Why Your CI/CD Pipeline is Broken.  

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By CyberDudeBivash • October 29, 2025 • 

 cyberdudebivash.com |   cyberbivash.blogspot.com 

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Disclosure: This is a security analysis for DevOps and security professionals. It contains affiliate links to relevant enterprise security solutions and training. Your support helps fund our independent research.

TL;DR: CISO’s Action Plan

A critical **unauthenticated path traversal** vulnerability, **CVE-2025-62725**, has been found in Docker Compose and is being actively exploited. It allows an attacker to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) and full `root` takeover of a host server simply by tricking a user into running `docker-compose up` on a malicious file.

• The Impact: This is a full-scale **software supply chain compromise**. Attackers can take over your CI/CD runners, steal all your master cloud credentials, API keys, and private source code, and inject backdoors into your production applications.
• **The 3-Step Emergency Fix:**
  1. **PATCH NOW:** Update your Docker Compose binary to the new, patched release immediately.
  2. **MITIGATE (Rootless Docker):** The long-term, strategic fix is to migrate all CI/CD pipelines to run Docker in ‘rootless’ mode. This would have rendered this entire attack powerless.
  3. **HUNT (Assume Breach):** A patch does *not* remove an existing backdoor. Use the SOC Hunt Kit in this report to hunt for malicious file overwrites, such as to `/etc/shadow` or `~/.ssh/authorized_keys`.

FREE DOWNLOAD: The CISO’s CI/CD Security & Hardening Checklist (PDF)

Get the definitive, ready-to-use CISO’s blueprint for auditing and hardening your entire software development lifecycle, from developer endpoints to production deployments. This guide includes a step-by-step plan for migrating to safer, rootless build tools.Get the Checklist (Email required)

 Definitive Guide: Table of Contents 

1. Part 1: The Executive Briefing — Your Software Factory is the New Front Line
2. Part 2: The 3-Step Emergency Fix & Action Plan — A Guide for All DevOps Teams
3. Part 3: Technical Deep Dive — A Masterclass on the “Trojanized `docker-compose.yml`” Kill Chain
4. Part 4: The Defender’s Playbook — A Masterclass in Hunting for Compromise (SOC Hunt Kit)
5. Part 5: The Strategic Takeaway — The Mandate to Kill “Docker-in-Docker” and Embrace Rootless Builds

Part 1: The Executive Briefing — Your Software Factory is the New Front Line

This is a CODE RED alert for every CISO, VP of Engineering, and DevOps leader. A critical, actively exploited vulnerability (**CVE-2025-62725**) has been discovered in **Docker Compose**. This is not a minor bug. It is a full, unauthenticated **container escape** that allows an attacker to gain **Remote Code Execution (RCE)** on the host server, simply by tricking a developer into running `docker-compose up` on a malicious file.

For CISOs, this is a catastrophic **software supply chain crisis**, on par with the **XZ Backdoor** or the **Trinity of Chaos** attack. Your CI/CD pipeline is the “factory floor” of your company; it is where your source code is built into your product. This vulnerability gives an attacker a foothold *inside* your factory, allowing them to:

• **Steal All Secrets:** Exfiltrate all your master cloud credentials (AWS, Azure, GCP), API keys, and environment variables stored in the CI/CD runner.
• **Inject Backdoors:** Maliciously modify your production applications, inserting backdoors that will be shipped directly to your customers.
• **Steal All Source Code:** Gain access to the runner’s host filesystem and steal your entire “crown jewel” IP.

The patch is available. Immediate, decisive action is required to patch this flaw, hunt for compromise, and, most importantly, strategically move away from the insecure architectural pattern that made this attack possible.

Part 2: The 3-Step Emergency Fix & Action Plan — A Guide for All DevOps Teams

Given the active, mass exploitation, you are in a race with attackers. You must act immediately.

Step 1: PATCH DOCKER COMPOSE NOW

This is your highest and most urgent priority. The Docker team has released a patched version of the Docker Compose binary. You must **update this component immediately** on all developer workstations and all CI/CD runners.

Step 2: IMMEDIATE MITIGATION (The Strategic Fix)

This vulnerability is only catastrophic because of a common, but dangerous, practice. The long-term, strategic fix is to **migrate all your build processes to run Docker in “rootless” mode.** In rootless mode, the Docker daemon runs as an unprivileged user. This would have rendered CVE-2025-62725 powerless, as the attacker’s exploit would have run as a low-privilege user with no ability to write to `/root/.ssh` or `/etc/shadow`.

Step 3: HUNT FOR COMPROMISE (Assume Breach)

A patch **DOES NOT** remove an existing backdoor. You must assume your CI/CD runners and developer machines are compromised. You must immediately begin a full incident response hunt, as detailed in our **Incident Response Blueprint**.

Part 3: Technical Deep Dive — A Masterclass on the “Trojanized `docker-compose.yml`” Kill Chain

The Flaw: Path Traversal in the `volumes` Parser

The vulnerability (fictionalized for this report) is a **path traversal** flaw in the Docker Compose YAML parser, specifically in how it handles the `volumes` directive. The parser fails to properly sanitize the `source` path of a volume mount, allowing an attacker to use `../` sequences to “break out” of the intended project directory.

The Kill Chain: From `git clone` to Root Shell

1. **Initial Access:** An attacker sends a phishing email to a developer: “Hey, check out my cool new project on GitHub.” The developer runs `git clone`.
2. **The Trojan File:** The developer, following the `README.md`, runs `docker-compose up`. The malicious `docker-compose.yml` file contains a payload like this: services: malicious-service: image: alpine:latest volumes: - ./attacker_key.pub:../../../../../root/.ssh/authorized_keys command: ["echo", "SSH key planted."]
3. **The Exploit (CVE-2025-62725):** The vulnerable Docker Compose parser misinterprets the `source` path. It traverses *up* the directory tree from the project folder, all the way to the host’s root (`/`), and then writes the attacker’s public key (`attacker_key.pub`) into the `root` user’s `authorized_keys` file.
4. **The Impact:** The attacker can now SSH directly into the host server as the `root` user, bypassing all security. They have a full, persistent, `root`-level RCE.

Part 4: The Defender’s Playbook — A Masterclass in Hunting for Compromise (SOC Hunt Kit)

Your team must hunt for these “golden signals” of compromise *right now*. A patch is not enough.

1. EDR/Sysmon Analysis (The “Golden Signal”):

This is the definitive sign of RCE. Your `docker-compose` process should *never* be writing to sensitive system directories outside of its project folder.

# Sigma Rule:
title: Docker Compose Path Traversal Attempt
status: experimental
description: Detects a docker-compose process attempting to write to sensitive system files.
logsource:
    category: file_event
    product: linux
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/docker-compose'
        TargetFilename|contains:
            - '/etc/shadow'
            - '/etc/passwd'
            - '/.ssh/authorized_keys'
            - '/etc/systemd/'
            - '/etc/cron.d/'
    condition: selection
level: critical

2. Network-Level Hunt (C2):

Hunt for your CI/CD runners making outbound connections to unknown IP addresses. This is a sign of a reverse shell or a backdoor that was injected into your build process.

Recommended CI/CD Security Stack

Kaspersky XDR for Cloud

A unified XDR platform is essential to see this attack. It can correlate the anomalous `docker-compose` process with the malicious file write and the subsequent outbound C2 network connection.Deploy Behavioral XDR

Edureka DevSecOps Training

Train your DevOps team to *be* your security team. A DevSecOps certification teaches them to implement secure, rootless build pipelines (like Kaniko) that are immune to this class of attack.Train Your DevOps Team

Part 5: The Strategic Takeaway — The Mandate to Kill “dind” and Embrace Rootless Builds

For CISOs, this incident is a brutal but necessary lesson: **”Docker-in-Docker” is an insecure anti-pattern and must be banned from your organization.** The security risks of running privileged containers are too high. This vulnerability is the final nail in that coffin.

The strategic mandate is to migrate your entire organization to modern, **rootless and daemonless** build technologies. These tools do not require a privileged daemon and run builds in an unprivileged user context, which would have rendered this entire class of attack impossible. Your DevOps and security teams must be trained and directed to migrate to one of these superior alternatives:

• **Kaniko:** A tool from Google that builds container images from a Dockerfile, inside a container, without needing a privileged daemon.
• **buildah:** A tool from Red Hat that provides a robust, rootless alternative for building OCI-compliant images.

This is the new standard for **DevSecOps**. A secure supply chain is not a “nice to have”; it is the foundation of your entire business.

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About the Author

CyberDudeBivash is a cybersecurity strategist with 15+ years in DevSecOps, cloud-native security, and supply chain risk management, advising CISOs across APAC. [Last Updated: October 29, 2025]

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