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Medium severityNVD Advisory· Published Feb 11, 2025· Updated Apr 15, 2026

CVE-2025-24976

CVE-2025-24976

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.

Patches

1
f4a500caf681

Fix registry token authentication bug

https://github.com/distribution/distributionMilos GajdosFeb 1, 2025via ghsa
commit
2 files changed · +57 −2
  • registry/auth/token/token.go+3 −2 modified
    @@ -219,11 +219,12 @@ func verifyJWK(header jose.Header, verifyOpts VerifyOptions) (signingKey crypto.
 	// Check to see if the key includes a certificate chain.
 	if len(jwk.Certificates) == 0 {
 		// The JWK should be one of the trusted root keys.
-		if _, trusted := verifyOpts.TrustedKeys[jwk.KeyID]; !trusted {
+		trustedKey, trusted := verifyOpts.TrustedKeys[jwk.KeyID]
+		if !trusted {
 			return nil, errors.New("untrusted JWK with no certificate chain")
 		}
 		// The JWK is one of the trusted keys.
-		return
+		return trustedKey, nil
 	}
 
 	opts := x509.VerifyOptions{
  • registry/auth/token/token_test.go+54 −0 modified
    @@ -646,3 +646,57 @@ func TestNewAccessControllerPemBlock(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("accessController has the wrong number of certificates")
 	}
 }
+
+// This test makes sure the untrusted key can not be used in token verification.
+func TestVerifyJWKWithTrustedKey(t *testing.T) {
+	// Generate a test key pair
+	privKey, err := ecdsa.GenerateKey(elliptic.P256(), rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	pubKey := privKey.Public()
+
+	// Create a JWK with no certificates
+	jwk := &jose.JSONWebKey{
+		Key:       privKey,
+		KeyID:     "test-key-id",
+		Use:       "sig",
+		Algorithm: string(jose.ES256),
+	}
+
+	// Create verify options with our public key as trusted
+	verifyOpts := VerifyOptions{
+		TrustedKeys: map[string]crypto.PublicKey{
+			"test-key-id": pubKey,
+		},
+	}
+
+	// Create test header
+	header := jose.Header{
+		JSONWebKey: jwk,
+	}
+
+	// Test the verifyJWK function
+	returnedKey, err := verifyJWK(header, verifyOpts)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected no error, got: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Verify the returned key matches our trusted key
+	if returnedKey != pubKey {
+		t.Error("Returned key does not match the trusted key")
+	}
+
+	// Test with untrusted key
+	verifyOpts.TrustedKeys = map[string]crypto.PublicKey{
+		"different-key-id": pubKey,
+	}
+
+	_, err = verifyJWK(header, verifyOpts)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("Expected error for untrusted key, got none")
+	}
+	if err.Error() != "untrusted JWK with no certificate chain" {
+		t.Errorf("Expected 'untrusted JWK with no certificate chain' error, got: %v", err)
+	}
+}

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated by null/stub on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

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