CVE-2021-41190

Clarify Content-Type handling in OCI spec

MEDIUM
5
CVSS Score
Published: November 17, 2021 at 07:20 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:08 AM UTC
4 products affected across 3 vendorsFedoraOpen Container Initiative Distribution SpecificationOpen Container Initiative Image Format Specification

Using distribution-spec by opencontainers?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect distribution-spec - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%

Description

The OCI Distribution Spec project defines an API protocol to facilitate and standardize the distribution of content. In the OCI Distribution Specification version 1.0.0 and prior, the Content-Type header alone was used to determine the type of document during push and pull operations. Documents that contain both “manifests” and “layers” fields could be interpreted as either a manifest or an index in the absence of an accompanying Content-Type header. If a Content-Type header changed between two pulls of the same digest, a client may interpret the resulting content differently. The OCI Distribution Specification has been updated to require that a mediaType value present in a manifest or index match the Content-Type header used during the push and pull operations. Clients pulling from a registry may distrust the Content-Type header and reject an ambiguous document that contains both “manifests” and “layers” fields or “manifests” and “config” fields if they are unable to update to version 1.0.1 of the spec.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.0.1
Affected range stops below 1.0.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-843

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card