CVE-2026-110697
Description
A flaw was found in Quay where the robot account listing function constructs a SQL LIKE pattern from user-controlled namespace names without escaping wildcard metacharacters. An attacker who creates a namespace containing an underscore character can match and retrieve robot accounts and their decrypted authentication tokens from other tenants' namespaces, leading to cross-tenant credential theft and unauthorized image operations.
Statement
This flaw is rated Critical because it lets an authenticated attacker break tenant isolation in multi-tenant Quay deployments. By creating a namespace whose name contains an underscore that collides with an existing one, the attacker causes the underscore to act as a single-character SQL LIKE wildcard, matching the victim's namespace. This allows the attacker to list and steal the victim's robot account tokens, then use them to read, push, or overwrite that tenant's container images. No elevated privileges or victim interaction are required. In OpenShift environments where Quay serves as the integrated container registry, stolen robot credentials can be used to inject malicious images into CI/CD pipelines, putting the container supply chain across production clusters at risk. Multi-tenant Quay deployments are common in enterprises sharing a registry across teams and in service providers hosting multiple customer organizations.
Mitigation
Update to the fixed Red Hat Quay release for your version: 3.9.28, 3.10.28, 3.12.24, 3.14.10, 3.15.9, 3.16.7, 3.17.7, or 3.18.3. Red Hat has already fixed Quay.io. There is no other complete workaround.
If you cannot update immediately, restrict who can create organizations or namespaces containing an underscore, rotate robot tokens for any namespace that collides with an underscore-containing one, and monitor registry activity for pulls or pushes that don't match expected robot usage. These steps reduce exposure but do not fix the underlying flaw.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 9.9 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Changed | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Adversaries could execute system commands, typically by changing the SQL statement to redirect output to a file that can then be executed.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Application Data
Since SQL databases generally hold sensitive data, loss of confidentiality is a frequent problem with SQL injection vulnerabilities.
Authentication
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism
If poor SQL commands are used to check user names and passwords or perform other kinds of authentication, it may be possible to connect to the product as another user with no previous knowledge of the password.
Access Control
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
If authorization information is held in a SQL database, it may be possible to change this information through the successful exploitation of a SQL injection vulnerability.
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Application Data
Just as it may be possible to read sensitive information, it is also possible to modify or even delete this information with a SQL injection attack.
Acknowledgements
This issue was discovered by Dave O'Connor (Red Hat).
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
