diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index d1077fd3ad..5665b53a47 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/coreos/stream-metadata-go v0.0.0-20210225230131-70edb9eb47b3
 	github.com/cyphar/filepath-securejoin v0.2.3
 	github.com/digitalocean/go-qemu v0.0.0-20210326154740-ac9e0b687001
-	github.com/docker/distribution v2.8.1+incompatible
 	github.com/docker/docker v20.10.19+incompatible
 	github.com/docker/go-connections v0.4.1-0.20210727194412-58542c764a11
 	github.com/docker/go-plugins-helpers v0.0.0-20211224144127-6eecb7beb651
@@ -85,6 +84,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1 // indirect
 	github.com/digitalocean/go-libvirt v0.0.0-20201209184759-e2a69bcd5bd1 // indirect
 	github.com/disiqueira/gotree/v3 v3.0.2 // indirect
+	github.com/docker/distribution v2.8.1+incompatible // indirect
 	github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers v0.7.0 // indirect
 	github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.3 // indirect
 	github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient v1.8.3 // indirect
diff --git a/pkg/api/handlers/utils/images.go b/pkg/api/handlers/utils/images.go
index 357fa29905..7831718cdb 100644
--- a/pkg/api/handlers/utils/images.go
+++ b/pkg/api/handlers/utils/images.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/containers/common/libimage"
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/docker"
+	"github.com/containers/image/v5/docker/reference"
 	storageTransport "github.com/containers/image/v5/storage"
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/transports/alltransports"
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/types"
@@ -15,7 +16,6 @@ import (
 	api "github.com/containers/podman/v4/pkg/api/types"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v4/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/containers/storage"
-	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 )
 
 // NormalizeToDockerHub normalizes the specified nameOrID to Docker Hub if the
diff --git a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
index 16b75829fa..1775ec24c1 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v4/pkg/errorhandling"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v4/pkg/rootless"
 	"github.com/containers/storage"
-	dockerRef "github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/opencontainers/go-digest"
 	imgspecv1 "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
@@ -894,7 +893,7 @@ func localPathFromURI(url *url.URL) (string, error) {
 }
 
 // putSignature creates signature and saves it to the signstore file
-func putSignature(manifestBlob []byte, mech signature.SigningMechanism, sigStoreDir string, instanceDigest digest.Digest, dockerReference dockerRef.Reference, options entities.SignOptions) error {
+func putSignature(manifestBlob []byte, mech signature.SigningMechanism, sigStoreDir string, instanceDigest digest.Digest, dockerReference reference.Reference, options entities.SignOptions) error {
 	newSig, err := signature.SignDockerManifest(manifestBlob, dockerReference.String(), mech, options.SignBy)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err