ORAS CLI: Cyclic Referrer Graph Can Cause Unbounded Recursion and Resource Consumption

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

2.0 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS

• CVE-2026-55588: 0.54% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 45.34 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary A malicious OCI registry can return a cyclic referrer graph (e.g. A - A or A - B - A). The ORAS CLI's recursive referrer traversal does not track visited descriptors, so a cycle causes unbounded recursion and memory growth — a client-side denial of service. This affects oras discover (recursive referrer traversal) and the recursive referrer counting used by oras backup and oras restore. Because oras discover --depth defaults to 0 (unlimited), discover is affected out of the box. Note: This advisory covers only the ORAS CLI (oras.land/oras). The related Referrers API pagination loop in the oras-go library is tracked in a separate advisory on the oras-go repository. Details In oras discover, recursive referrer traversal follows discovered referrers without maintaining a visited-descriptor set. Simplified flow: A malicious registry can create cyclic graphs such as: or Because traversal does not track previously visited descriptors, recursion never reaches a terminating…

Published by the source

28 Aug 2026, 18:19 UTC

Last modified by the source

2 Sep 2026, 19:30 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:28 UTC

1. Revision 3 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx

2. Revision 2 · amended · 24 Oct 2026

   Amended from osv record GO-2026-6317

3. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-55588

Advisory: ORAS CLI: Cyclic Referrer Graph Can Cause Unbounded Recursion and Resource Consumption
IDs: CVE-2026-55588, GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-55588 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:28 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Low (CVSS 2.0)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: oras.land/oras 1.3.3. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go oras.land/oras: affected < 1.3.3; fixed in 1.3.3

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go oras.land/oras: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on oras.land/oras.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx (OSV record GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx lists affected ranges: Go oras.land/oras >=0 <1.3.3 (fixed))
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GO-2026-6317 (OSV record GO-2026-6317 lists affected ranges: Go oras.land/oras >=0 <1.3.3 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-298f-872v-2rcx lists affected ranges: Go oras.land/oras >=0 <1.3.3)

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