Docker has fixed a critical Docker Hub vulnerability that could let an attacker use a personal access token (PAT) to impersonate another user at the container registry and alter images published under legitimate names.
The issue, tracked as CVE-2026-105445, affected the process for converting a personal Docker Hub account into an organization. Depending on the token’s scope and the target user’s permissions, an attacker could pull, push or delete images in repositories available to that user.
Docker received the vulnerability report and deployed a production fix on September 30, 2026, completing the remediation in less than four hours, according to a BleepingComputer report published on October 13, 2026.
Account conversion reassigned tokens without consent
The flaw dated to August 26, 2024, when Docker Hub began transferring an account’s existing PAT to the designated owner during conversion from a personal account to an organization.
The token’s secret was neither changed nor revoked, and the person selected as organization owner did not have to approve the assignment.
Under the attack scenario described by Docker, an attacker could:
- Create a Docker Hub account and generate a PAT.
- Convert that account into an organization.
- Designate the intended victim as the organization’s owner.
- Continue using the original PAT, which Docker Hub now treated as belonging to the victim.
The impersonation applied at the registry layer rather than through Docker Hub’s web interface. Docker said the token did not provide web access to the target’s account and could not be used to modify the victim’s password, email address or two-factor authentication settings.
Even with those limits, the registry permissions created a significant supply-chain risk. A transferred token could operate on the target’s repositories—and repositories belonging to organizations the target could access—within the constraints of the PAT’s scope and the victim’s existing permissions. That included publishing modified images under an established identity.
Docker changed the conversion process and disabled transferred PATs
Docker Hub no longer carries PATs across when a personal account is converted into an organization. The service also now requires a user’s consent before that person can be assigned as the organization owner.
Docker notified affected users and organization owners on October 2. On October 8, it deactivated transferred PATs unless their owners had explicitly requested that they remain active.
According to Docker’s guidance, users who did not receive a notification should consider themselves unaffected and do not need to take action.
Review found no evidence of abuse
Docker said it examined 304,000 pushes made with transferred tokens and analyzed public images it classified as high risk. The company reported finding no evidence that attackers had exploited CVE-2026-105445.
That figure represents push operations reviewed, not a count of affected users, accounts or organizations. Docker’s conclusion is based on its own investigation as relayed in the October 13 report.
