CVE-2026-31801 | zot create-only policy allows overwrite attempts of existing latest tag (update permission not required)

Exp

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.

Published: 2026-03-10 Last update: 2026-03-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-31801 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-31801

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-31801

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-11 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-31801

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.1 4.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-31801

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-31801

GHSA-85jx-fm8m-x8c6 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — zot’s create-only policy allows overwrite attempts of existing latest tag (update permission not required)

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-31801

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
zotregistry zot >= 1.3.0, < 2.1.15 cpe:2.3:a:zotregistry:zot:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-31801

cvelogic Threat Intelligence