CVE-2025-24976 Distribution's token authentication allows attacker to inject an untrusted signing key in a JWT
Attackers can inject untrusted signing keys into JWTs in container registries with token auth, bypassing authentication and potentially executing code.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-24976?
CVE-2025-24976 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in distribution, published on 11 Feb 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Distribution is a toolkit to pack, ship, store, and deliver container content. Systems running registry versions 3.0.0-beta.1 through 3.0.0-rc.2 with token authentication enabled may be vulnerable to an issue in which token authentication allows an attacker to inject an untrusted signing key in a JSON web token (JWT). The issue lies in how the JSON web key (JWK) verification is performed. When a JWT contains a JWK header without a certificate chain, the code only checks if the KeyID (`kid`) matches one of the trusted keys, but doesn't verify that the actual key material matches. A fix for the issue is available at commit 5ea9aa028db65ca5665f6af2c20ecf9dc34e5fcd and expected to be a part of version 3.0.0-rc.3. There is no way to work around this issue without patching if the system requires token authentication.
Weakness: CWE-639
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-24976?
1 open source package ship an affected version, including github.com/distribution/distribution.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/distribution/distribution Go | All versions | None |
How do I fix CVE-2025-24976?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2025-24976 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-24976 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-phw4-mc57-4hwc, GO-2025-3460, MINI-28c4-wgch-v24v, MINI-4f52-62f8-cfwq, MINI-c6v4-w2g2-5q6c, MINI-g8qp-4cg4-vvq6 and 5 more.