Docker Hub CVE-2026-105445: personal tokens leaked to org owner

Docker issued a security advisory on 12 October 2026 regarding a flaw in Docker Hub that, for over two years, had inadvertently transferred personal access tokens (PATs) to another user without their knowledge in certain cases. It affects anyone using Docker Hub for automation, CI/CD or repository management: if a token was reassigned, whoever controlled it could authenticate as the new owner directly against the registry.

How the flaw worked

Docker Hub allows converting a personal account into an organisation by designating an existing account as the new owner—this is the way to turn alice/app into an organisation repository without breaking existing references. Beginning 26 August 2024, the conversion also reassigned the personal access tokens (PATs) from the converted account to the new owner, changing the token ownership record without rotating the secret and without requesting confirmation from the recipient. The result: an attacker could create an account, generate a PAT, convert the account nominating a target user as owner, and continue using that PAT to pull, push or delete images with the target's identity and permissions. The flaw did not affect the web interface nor allow changing the targeted account's password, email or 2FA.

Timeline and investigation

Date/time	Event
26 Aug 2024, 20:33 UTC	Exposure begins
30 Sep 2026, 11:40 ET	Report received by security@docker.com
30 Sep 2026, ~19:10 UTC	Fix deployed to production
2 Oct 2026, 17:30 ET	Email sent to affected users
8 Oct 2026, 15:45 ET	Forced deactivation of transferred tokens

Docker reviewed approximately 304,000 pushes made with transferred tokens and found no evidence of exploitation or malicious images; in most cases the converted account and new owner belonged to the same person or team, a legitimate use of the feature.

What changes and what to do

Docker now requires explicit consent before designating someone as owner of an organisation and maintains an auditable record of token ownership changes. Anyone who did not receive the 2 October email was not affected. For those running automation, it's worth reviewing PATs from Account settings → Personal access tokens and migrating to organisation access tokens, which are separate from personal identity. Those using GitHub Actions can avoid long-lived PATs entirely: from 31 July 2026 Docker offers OIDC connections for GitHub Actions to any organisation with a Docker Team, Docker Business or Docker Hardened Images subscription, as well as organisations in the Docker-Sponsored Open Source programme.