Harbor Release Signature Verification

February 2, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Note: Signature verification is available starting with Harbor v2.15.0. Earlier releases are not signed.

Table of Contents

Overview

Harbor release artifacts (installers) are cryptographically signed using Cosign with keyless signing. This allows you to verify that downloads are authentic and unmodified.

Why Verify

  • Confirms the file came from Harbor's official build
  • Detects any modifications or tampering
  • Protects against malicious downloads

Prerequisites

Install Cosign (v2.0+):

# macOS
brew install sigstore/tap/cosign

# Linux
curl -LO https://github.com/sigstore/cosign/releases/latest/download/cosign-linux-amd64
chmod +x cosign-linux-amd64
sudo mv cosign-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/cosign

# Windows (PowerShell)
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/sigstore/cosign/releases/latest/download/cosign-windows-amd64.exe" -OutFile "cosign.exe"

# Verify installation
cosign version

Verification Steps

1. Download Files

# Download installer and Signature file (example v2.15.0)
wget https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/download/v2.15.0/harbor-offline-installer-v2.15.0.tgz
wget https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/download/v2.15.0/harbor-offline-installer-v2.15.0.tgz.sigstore.json

2. Verify Signature

cosign verify-blob \
  --bundle harbor-offline-installer-v2.15.0.tgz.sigstore.json \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com \
  --certificate-identity-regexp '^https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/.github/workflows/publish_release.yml@refs/tags/v.*$' \
  harbor-offline-installer-v2.15.0.tgz

Expected output:

Verified OK

3. For Online Installer

wget https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/download/v2.15.0/harbor-online-installer-v2.15.0.tgz
wget https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/download/v2.15.0/harbor-online-installer-v2.15.0.tgz.sigstore.json

cosign verify-blob \
  --bundle harbor-online-installer-v2.15.0.tgz.sigstore.json \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com \
  --certificate-identity-regexp '^https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/.github/workflows/publish_release.yml@refs/tags/v.*$' \
  harbor-online-installer-v2.15.0.tgz

Troubleshooting

Certificate identity doesn't match

Cause: Incorrect repository name in verification command
Solution: Ensure you're using goharbor/harbor in the --certificate-identity-regexp parameter

Unable to find signature

Cause: Signature file not in the same directory as the installer
Solution: Ensure both .tgz and .tgz.sigstore.json files are in the current working directory

Bad signature

Cause: Downloaded files are corrupted or incomplete
Solution: Re-download both the installer and signature files from the official Harbor releases page

Version not supported

Cause: Attempting to verify releases prior to v2.15.0
Solution: Signature verification is only available for Harbor v2.15.0 and later

What Gets Verified

  • File authenticity - Signed by official Harbor CI/CD workflow
  • File integrity - No modifications since signing
  • Build provenance - Logged in public Sigstore transparency log

Resources

Applies to: Harbor v2.15.0 and later