CVE-2026-123710
Description
A flaw was found in Red Hat Quay. An unauthenticated client can obtain an anonymous registry token with an audience it controls, present that token to the service key rotation endpoint, and install its own approved signing key with no expiry. Registry tokens signed with that key are accepted for any repository, allowing read and write access to private images and replacement of repository tags.
Statement
This Critical flaw in Red Hat Quay's service key server allows an unauthenticated attacker to take over registry token signing. Key rotation authenticates the caller only by verifying that the JWT is signed by an already approved service key with the expected audience and issuer, without checking that the token is a rotation credential. An anonymous token minted by /v2/auth satisfies that check. Installed keys inherit approval and can be created without an expiry, so forged registry tokens are accepted for any repository. Deployments where /keys is reachable by untrusted clients are affected.
Mitigation
Restrict access to the /keys endpoint at the proxy or load balancer so only trusted internal components can reach it. Review audit logs for service_key_rotate and service_key_delete events with a null expiration_date, and remove any unrecognised approved service keys. Deleting a rogue key is not durable until a fixed build is deployed, because the anonymous request can install a new key.
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 | 9.8 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | 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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
When input does not comply with the expected type, attackers could trigger unexpected errors, cause incorrect actions to take place, or exploit latent vulnerabilities that would not be possible if the input conformed with the expected type.
Acknowledgements
This issue was discovered by Dave O'Connor (Red Hat).
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