CVE-2025-65965: Grype Information Disclosure Vulnerability

CVE-2025-65965 Overview

CVE-2025-65965 is a credential disclosure vulnerability in Grype, an open-source vulnerability scanner for container images and filesystems maintained by Anchore. The flaw affects Grype versions 0.68.0 through 0.104.0. When registry credentials are configured and scan output is written using the --file or --output json=<file> options, the registry credentials are embedded unsanitized in the resulting report file. Anchore patched the issue in version 0.104.1. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-212 (Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer).

Critical Impact
Container registry credentials written into Grype scan reports can leak to anyone with access to CI artifacts, build logs, or shared report storage, enabling unauthorized registry access.

Affected Products

Anchore Grype versions 0.68.0 through 0.104.0
Grype JSON, table, and SBOM output writers that consume the Registry.Auth configuration
CI/CD pipelines and container scanning workflows that persist Grype reports to disk

Discovery Timeline

2025-11-25 - CVE-2025-65965 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in the NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-65965

Vulnerability Analysis

Grype accepts registry authentication through its configuration file under the registry.auth block. The credentials are loaded into a Go struct and passed alongside other scan options when Grype serializes the final report. The report writer marshals the full options object, including authentication entries containing usernames, passwords, and tokens. When the user redirects output through --file or --output json=<file>, the resulting artifact contains those credentials in cleartext.

The disclosure is local in vector but its blast radius extends beyond the host. Scan reports are commonly uploaded as CI artifacts, attached to pull requests, archived in object storage, or shared with downstream teams. Any party with read access to those reports inherits the embedded registry credentials.

Root Cause

The registry struct in cmd/grype/cli/options/registry.go tagged the Auth field for JSON serialization without the omitempty directive, and the report builder in cmd/grype/cli/commands/root.go did not strip credentials before document creation. Both omissions caused the secrets to flow into rendered output.

Attack Vector

An attacker who can read a Grype report file produced by a vulnerable version extracts the registry credentials directly from the JSON payload. No exploitation of the scanning host is required.

// Patch in cmd/grype/cli/commands/root.go
	log.WithFields("time", time.Since(startTime)).Info("found vulnerability matches")
	startTime = time.Now()

+	// clear out the registry auth information to avoid including possibly sensitive information in the report
+	opts.Registry.Auth = nil
+
	model, err := models.NewDocument(app.ID(), packages, pkgContext, *remainingMatches, ignoredMatches, vp, opts, dbInfo(status, vp), models.SortStrategy(opts.SortBy.Criteria), opts.Timestamp)

Source: Anchore Grype commit 39f7fa17

// Patch in cmd/grype/cli/options/registry.go
 type registry struct {
 	InsecureSkipTLSVerify bool                  `yaml:"insecure-skip-tls-verify" json:"insecure-skip-tls-verify" mapstructure:"insecure-skip-tls-verify"`
 	InsecureUseHTTP       bool                  `yaml:"insecure-use-http" json:"insecure-use-http" mapstructure:"insecure-use-http"`
-	Auth                  []RegistryCredentials `yaml:"auth" json:"auth" mapstructure:"auth"`
+	Auth                  []RegistryCredentials `yaml:"auth" json:"auth,omitempty" mapstructure:"auth"`
 	CACert                string                `yaml:"ca-cert" json:"ca-cert" mapstructure:"ca-cert"`
 }

Source: Anchore Grype commit 39f7fa17

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-65965

Indicators of Compromise

Grype JSON output files containing a populated registry.auth array with username, password, token, or authority fields
Build artifacts, CI logs, or S3/GCS objects with filenames such as grype-report.json, vulns.json, or any file produced with --file containing credential structures
Unexpected registry authentication events from hosts or service accounts that should not be initiating pulls

Detection Strategies

Scan repositories, artifact stores, and log buckets for Grype report files and grep for the "auth":[ pattern paired with "password" or "token" keys
Inventory CI pipelines invoking Grype with --file or --output json= on versions 0.68.0 through 0.104.0
Correlate registry access logs with workstation or runner identities to identify credential reuse from leaked reports

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on Grype binary execution where the version string falls within the affected range
Monitor registry authentication logs for logins from IP ranges that do not match approved CI infrastructure
Apply DLP rules to artifact stores to flag JSON files containing credential keywords adjacent to registry hostnames

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-65965

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Grype to version 0.104.1 or later across all developer workstations, CI runners, and container build systems
Rotate every registry credential that was configured in Grype on affected versions, including ephemeral CI tokens
Audit existing scan reports stored in artifact repositories and purge any files that contain embedded registry.auth data

Patch Information

Anchore released the fix in Grype 0.104.1 via pull request #3068 and commit 39f7fa17. The patch nils out opts.Registry.Auth before document serialization and marks the Auth JSON field as omitempty. Full details are documented in GHSA-6gxw-85q2-q646.

Workarounds

Redirect Grype output to a file using shell redirection (grype <image> > report.json) instead of --file or --output json=<file>
Supply registry credentials through environment variables consumed by the container runtime rather than Grype's registry.auth configuration block
Restrict read access on existing scan artifacts until upgrade and credential rotation are complete

bash

# Upgrade Grype and verify the fixed version
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anchore/grype/main/install.sh | sh -s -- -b /usr/local/bin v0.104.1
grype version

# Safe output pattern that bypasses the vulnerable writer
grype registry:myregistry.example.com/app:latest -o json > grype-report.json