CVE-2026-55588
ORAS CLI: Cyclic Referrer Graph Can Cause Unbounded Recursion and Resource Consumption
Description
ORAS (OCI Registry As Storage) is a CLI and library for managing artifacts in OCI registries. In ORAS CLI versions up to and including 1.3.2, the recursive referrer traversal does not track visited descriptors, so a malicious OCI registry that returns a cyclic referrer graph causes unbounded recursion and memory growth. This affects oras discover, whose recursive traversal is enabled by default because the --depth option defaults to 0 (unlimited), as well as the recursive referrer counting used by the oras backup and oras restore workflows. A cyclic graph can be as simple as A referring to B and B referring back to A. A malicious registry can use this to cause a client-side denial of service, exhausting CPU and memory and hanging automation or CI/CD pipelines that run ORAS against untrusted registry metadata. The vulnerability does not extend to code execution, artifact substitution, or integrity bypass. This issue has been fixed in version 1.3.3.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 25, 2026, 9:17 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 27, 2026, 5:18 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-55588
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | MITRE-CVE |
Solution
- Update ORAS CLI to version 1.3.3 or later.
- Avoid using untrusted OCI registries.
- Monitor memory and CPU usage for affected systems.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-55588.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/oras-project/oras/commit/440eb65d07a0631f131944d28e7c29d562ec17f3 | |
| https://github.com/oras-project/oras/security/advisories/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-55588 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-55588
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-55588 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-55588 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by [email protected]
Aug. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/commit/440eb65d07a0631f131944d28e7c29d562ec17f3 Added Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/security/advisories/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx Removed Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/commit/440eb65d07a0631f131944d28e7c29d562ec17f3 Removed Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/security/advisories/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx -
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Aug. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-55588', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-08-27T13:52:54.479182Z'} -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Aug. 25, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'vendor': 'oras-project', 'product': 'oras', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '< 1.3.3'}]}] Added Description ORAS (OCI Registry As Storage) is a CLI and library for managing artifacts in OCI registries. In ORAS CLI versions up to and including 1.3.2, the recursive referrer traversal does not track visited descriptors, so a malicious OCI registry that returns a cyclic referrer graph causes unbounded recursion and memory growth. This affects oras discover, whose recursive traversal is enabled by default because the --depth option defaults to 0 (unlimited), as well as the recursive referrer counting used by the oras backup and oras restore workflows. A cyclic graph can be as simple as A referring to B and B referring back to A. A malicious registry can use this to cause a client-side denial of service, exhausting CPU and memory and hanging automation or CI/CD pipelines that run ORAS against untrusted registry metadata. The vulnerability does not extend to code execution, artifact substitution, or integrity bypass. This issue has been fixed in version 1.3.3. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Added CWE CWE-400 Added CWE CWE-674 Added CWE CWE-835 Added Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/commit/440eb65d07a0631f131944d28e7c29d562ec17f3 Added Reference https://github.com/oras-project/oras/security/advisories/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx