Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Affected container registries can unintentionally make deleted image content readable again. This threatens confidentiality where deletion is relied upon to revoke access, remove sensitive artifacts, or satisfy retention controls. The flaw requires a specific Redis cache and deletion configuration and is fixed in Distribution 3.1.0.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority confidentiality issue, especially for shared registries containing secrets, proprietary images, or regulated data. Patch exposed qualifying deployments promptly. This is not presented as an emergency exploitation event because active exploitation is not established in the supplied evidence.
Technical view
Before 3.1.0, deleting a blob clears its shared digest descriptor but leaves stale repository-scoped membership in Redis. A later Stat or Get involving another repository can repopulate the shared descriptor, restoring read access from the original repository. The supplied CVSS 3.1 score is 7.5, reflecting network-accessible, low-complexity confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Distribution versions earlier than 3.1.0 configured with both storage.cache.blobdescriptor set to redis and storage.delete.enabled set to true. Risk is greatest where repositories share blob digests and deletion is treated as immediate access revocation.
Exploitation context
The supplied record is not in CISA KEV, and the provided sources do not establish active exploitation. Exploitation nevertheless appears low complexity under the stated configuration, potentially requiring only subsequent access to the same digest through another repository. Actual reachability depends on registry authentication and repository permissions.
Researcher notes
The defect combines improper authorization state handling with stale cache behavior, mapped to CWE-284 and CWE-524. The key invariant failure is disagreement between shared digest descriptors and repository-scoped membership after deletion. Evidence identifies confidentiality impact only; integrity and availability impacts are not established.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Distribution to version 3.1.0 or later.
- Prioritize registries storing sensitive, deleted, or access-restricted container content.
- If immediate upgrading is impossible, disable one required configuration condition after assessing operational impact.
- Review the GitHub advisory and applicable Red Hat errata for deployment-specific packages.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Distribution versions across all registry instances.
- Confirm whether Redis blob descriptor caching and deletion are both enabled.
- Identify repositories where deletion is used to revoke access to sensitive blobs.
- After upgrading, verify controlled blob deletion does not restore read access across repositories.
- Review access logs for requests involving previously deleted blob digests.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-284: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-524: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupContainer behavior lookup
The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-35172 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N3.93.6GitHub_MCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N3.93.6redhat-SADPVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Made public.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
- 2026-04-06T20:01:47.396Z: Reported to Red Hat.
- 2026-04-06T19:08:44.512Z: Made public.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/distribution/distribution/security/advisories/GHSA-f2g3-hh2r-cwgcCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-35172CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2455571CVE reference, redhat-SADP · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-35172.jsonCVE reference, redhat-SADP · x_sadp-csaf-vex
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26529CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26543CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:28893CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:23234CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25045CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:37387CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Access Control
Improper Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information
Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.