The vulnerability exists in the Clair fetcher component of Red Hat Quay 3, where outbound HTTP requests are made to URIs from manifest layer descriptors without validating the IP address or URI scheme. If PSK authentication is not configured (which is opt-in and not enforced by default), an unauthenticated attacker can submit manifests with URIs pointing to internal services or cloud metadata endpoints, causing SSRF. The SSRF is reflective for error responses, leaking up to 256 bytes of the error body via CheckResponse error messages. Operator-managed deployments automatically enable PSK authentication, preventing exposure to this unauthenticated SSRF vector.

An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this SSRF vulnerability to make the server send HTTP requests to internal or cloud metadata endpoints, potentially leaking sensitive information up to 256 bytes from error responses. This could aid in reconnaissance or further attacks. However, the impact is limited to information disclosure (confidentiality) with no integrity or availability impact. Operator-managed Red Hat Quay deployments are not vulnerable to the unauthenticated attack vector due to auto-configured PSK authentication.

Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Operator-managed Red Hat Quay deployments mitigate this vulnerability by auto-configuring PSK authentication, which prevents unauthenticated exploitation. For other deployments, enabling PSK authentication is recommended to mitigate the SSRF risk. Monitor the Red Hat advisory for updates on official patches or fixes.