This vulnerability allows a bearer‑authenticated attacker to delete image manifests and blobs that are within the token’s repository scope, even though the token only has pull and push permissions. The bug arises because the authenticator maps DELETE requests to the push action and does not perform an explicit delete‑permission check, bypassing the fine‑grained DistSpecAuthzHandler. Consequently, images can be made unavailable and repository history altered by an attacker who can obtain or forge a limited token.

Project ZOT’s Zot container registry, versions prior to 2.1.18, is affected. The problem manifests in the package code at pkg/api/authn.go and pkg/api/authz.go, and the fix is released in the v2.1.18 release.

The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 8.1 and is not currently listed in CISA’s KEV. EPSS data is unavailable, but the issue requires a bearer token with push privileges, which an attacker can acquire from a compromised identity provider or by social engineering. Remote attackers can exploit the flaw over the network if they possess an authenticated session, so the likelihood of exploitation is moderate to high for environments that issue broad push rights. No public exploit is known, but the impact could be significant if an attacker can delete critical images.