CVE-2023-45821
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedArtifact Hub is a web-based application that enables finding, installing, and publishing packages and configurations for CNCF projects. During a security audit of Artifact Hub's code base a security researcher identified a bug in which the `registryIsDockerHub` function was only checking that the registry domain had the `docker.io` suffix. Artifact Hub allows providing some Docker credentials that are used to increase the rate limit applied when interacting with the Docker Hub registry API to read publicly available content. Due to the incorrect check described above, it'd be possible to hijack those credentials by purchasing a domain which ends with `docker.io` and deploying a fake OCI registry on it. <https://artifacthub.io/> uses some credentials that only have permissions to read public content available in the Docker Hub. However, even though credentials for private repositories (disabled on `artifacthub.io`) are handled in a different way, other Artifact Hub deployments could have been using them for a different purpose. This issue has been resolved in version `1.16.0`. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceArtifact Hub's `registryIsDockerHub` function incorrectly validates Docker registries by only checking if the domain ends with `docker.io`. This allows attackers to register domains like `malicious.docker.io` and deploy fake OCI registries to intercept Docker credentials that users provide for Docker Hub rate limiting.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 1.16.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Artifact Hub versionRun 'artifact-hub version' or check the running container/image version to determine the exact version numberAffected if The installed version is less than 1.16.0
You are affected if the installed version of Artifact Hub is any version prior to 1.16.0, as the vulnerable validation logic is present in all earlier versions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped1.16.0
Upgrade to version 1.16.0. There are no available workarounds.
1.16.0
- Check current Artifact Hub version to confirm it is below 1.16.0
- Upgrade Artifact Hub to version 1.16.0 or later
- After upgrade, verify the registryIsDockerHub function now properly validates the full docker.io domain and not just the suffix
- Test that Docker Hub credential handling works correctly with the patched version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,480.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-45821 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-45821 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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