VulnerabilityPublished 10 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-31801: zot · Incorrect Authorization

Affects zotSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.7 High : upgrade to 2.1.15 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.7High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 12% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.1.15

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade zot and project-zot/zot to 2.1.15.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
project-zotzot	Affected >=1.3.0 <2.1.15	Fixed in 2.1.15
GitHubproject-zot/zot`pkg:github/project-zot/zot`Other threats	Affected >=1.3.0 <2.1.15	Fixed in 2.1.15

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to upgrade all instances of project-zot to version 2.1.15 or later, where the authorization logic is corrected. Until upgrades can be performed, organizations should implement strict network access controls to limit who can perform PUT operations on manifests, especially on the 'latest' tag. Review and tighten permissions to ensure that users with create rights do not have unnecessary access to sensitive repositories or tags. Implement monitoring and alerting on manifest overwrite events, particularly targeting the 'latest' tag, to detect suspicious activity. Consider using image signing and verification mechanisms to detect unauthorized image modifications. In environments where upgrading is delayed, temporarily disable or restrict use of the 'latest' tag to reduce risk. Conduct thorough audits of container registries to identify any unauthorized changes. Finally, integrate vulnerability scanning and supply chain security tools to detect compromised images before deployment.

Description

zot is ancontainer image/artifact registry based on the Open Container Initiative Distribution Specification. From 1.3.0 to 2.1.14, zot’s dist-spec authorization middleware infers the required action for PUT /v2/{name}/manifests/{reference} as create by default, and only switches to update when the tag already exists and reference != "latest". As a result, when latest already exists, a user who is allowed to create (but not allowed to update) can still pass the authorization check for an overwrite attempt of latest. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.1.15.

Impact

This vulnerability primarily impacts the integrity of container images stored in affected zot registries. Unauthorized users with create permissions can overwrite the 'latest' tag, potentially replacing trusted images with malicious or altered versions. This can lead to supply chain compromises, deployment of backdoored containers, and disruption of development and production workflows relying on the 'latest' tag. Since container images are widely used in cloud-native environments, CI/CD pipelines, and production deployments, the impact can be significant for organizations relying on zot as their artifact registry. The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or availability directly but undermines trust in the image provenance and can facilitate further attacks. Attackers with network access and limited privileges can exploit this flaw without user interaction, increasing the risk of automated or stealthy attacks. Organizations using affected versions face risks of unauthorized code execution, data breaches, or service disruption if compromised images are deployed.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

github.com/project-zot/zot/security/advisories/GHSA-85jx-fm8m-x8c6 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Mar 2026, 21:29 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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