Container Registry Poisoning

Container Registry Poisoning is a sophisticated supply chain compromise technique where attackers manipulate container images hosted in registries to distribute malicious code to downstream consumers. Operating within the Gain Access phase, this attack targets the growing dependency on containerized applications by exploiting vulnerabilities in container registry authentication, validation mechanisms, or through direct infiltration of the registry infrastructure. Adversaries can publish intentionally malicious containers, tamper with existing trusted images by injecting backdoors or malware, or exploit version confusion by creating images with names similar to popular containers but containing malicious code. The poisoned containers, once pulled and deployed by unsuspecting users, can establish initial access to production environments, potentially bypassing traditional security controls since they originate from trusted sources. This technique is particularly effective because container images often run with elevated privileges and organizations frequently deploy containers without thorough security scanning, making it a high-impact entry vector into target environments.