What is CVE-2025-27403?

CVE-2025-27403 is a high-severity improper authentication vulnerability in github.com/ratify-project/ratify (go), affecting versions < 1.2.3. It is fixed in 1.2.3, 1.3.2. The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2025-27403?

github.com/ratify-project/ratify (go) versions < 1.2.3; github.com/deislabs/ratify (go) versions < 1.2.3.

Is there a fix for CVE-2025-27403?

Yes. CVE-2025-27403 is fixed in 1.2.3, 1.3.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2025-27403 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

What actually determines whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

How do I fix CVE-2025-27403?

Upgrade: github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.2.3 or later, github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.3.2 or later, github.com/deislabs/ratify to 1.2.3 or later.

CVE-2025-27403 in github.com/ratify-project/ratify

Q: Which packages are affected by CVE-2025-27403?

github.com/ratify-project/ratify (go) versions < 1.2.3; github.com/deislabs/ratify (go) versions < 1.2.3.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2025-27403?

Yes. CVE-2025-27403 is fixed in 1.2.3, 1.3.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is CVE-2025-27403 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

Q: What actually determines whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

Q: How do I fix CVE-2025-27403?

Upgrade: github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.2.3 or later, github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.3.2 or later, github.com/deislabs/ratify to 1.2.3 or later.

Summary

Ratify Azure authentication providers can leak authentication tokens to non-Azure container registries

Credits

The ratify project would like to thank Shiwei Zhang (@shizhMSFT) and Binbin Li (@binbin-li) for responsibly disclosing the issue and thank Binbin Li (@binbin-li) and Akash Singhal (@akashsinghal) for actively mitigating the issue.

Impact

In a Kubernetes environment, Ratify can be configured to authenticate to a private Azure Container Registry (ACR). The Azure workload identity and Azure managed identity authentication providers are configured in this setup. Users that configure a private ACR to be used with the Azure authentication providers may be impacted.
Both Azure authentication providers attempt to exchange an Entra ID (EID) token for an ACR refresh token. However, Ratify’s Azure authentication providers did not verify that the target registry is an ACR. This could have led to the EID token being presented to a non-ACR registry during token exchange. EID tokens with ACR access can potentially be extracted and abused if a user workload contains an image reference to a malicious registry.

The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access. Typical impact: unauthorized access to functions or data reserved for authenticated parties.

Affected versions

github.com/ratify-project/ratify (< 1.2.3) github.com/ratify-project/ratify (>= 1.3.0, < 1.3.2) github.com/deislabs/ratify (< 1.2.3)

Security releases

github.com/ratify-project/ratify → 1.2.3 (go) github.com/ratify-project/ratify → 1.3.2 (go) github.com/deislabs/ratify → 1.2.3 (go)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

The Azure workload identity and Azure managed identity authentication providers are updated to add new validation prior to EID token exchange. Validation relies upon registry domain validation against a pre-configured list of well-known ACR endpoints. EID token exchange will be executed only if at least one of the configured well-known domain suffixes (wildcard support included) matches the registry domain of the image reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-27403? CVE-2025-27403 is a high-severity improper authentication vulnerability in github.com/ratify-project/ratify (go), affecting versions < 1.2.3. It is fixed in 1.2.3, 1.3.2. The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access.
Which packages are affected by CVE-2025-27403?
- github.com/ratify-project/ratify (go) (versions < 1.2.3)
- github.com/deislabs/ratify (go) (versions < 1.2.3)
Is there a fix for CVE-2025-27403? Yes. CVE-2025-27403 is fixed in 1.2.3, 1.3.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2025-27403 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
What actually determines whether CVE-2025-27403 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
How do I fix CVE-2025-27403?
- Upgrade github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.2.3 or later
- Upgrade github.com/ratify-project/ratify to 1.3.2 or later
- Upgrade github.com/deislabs/ratify to 1.2.3 or later