diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/container_status.go b/pkg/cri/server/container_status.go
index 0d5748e00..025522af3 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/container_status.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/container_status.go
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/errdefs"
-	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/server/images"
 	containerstore "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/store/container"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/util"
 
 	runtimespec "github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
 	runtime "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1"
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func (c *criService) ContainerStatus(ctx context.Context, r *runtime.ContainerSt
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get image %q: %w", imageRef, err)
 		}
 	} else {
-		repoTags, repoDigests := images.ParseImageReferences(image.References)
+		repoTags, repoDigests := util.ParseImageReferences(image.References)
 		if len(repoTags) > 0 {
 			// Based on current behavior of dockershim, this field should be
 			// image tag.
diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status.go b/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status.go
index cb3eba329..a54fc08b7 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status.go
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/errdefs"
 	imagestore "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/store/image"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/util"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/tracing"
 	"github.com/containerd/log"
-	docker "github.com/distribution/reference"
 
 	imagespec "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
 	runtime "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1"
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func (c *CRIImageService) ImageStatus(ctx context.Context, r *runtime.ImageStatu
 
 // toCRIImage converts internal image object to CRI runtime.Image.
 func toCRIImage(image imagestore.Image) *runtime.Image {
-	repoTags, repoDigests := ParseImageReferences(image.References)
+	repoTags, repoDigests := util.ParseImageReferences(image.References)
 	runtimeImage := &runtime.Image{
 		Id:          image.ID,
 		RepoTags:    repoTags,
@@ -101,24 +101,6 @@ func getUserFromImage(user string) (*int64, string) {
 	return &uid, ""
 }
 
-// ParseImageReferences parses a list of arbitrary image references and returns
-// the repotags and repodigests
-func ParseImageReferences(refs []string) ([]string, []string) {
-	var tags, digests []string
-	for _, ref := range refs {
-		parsed, err := docker.ParseAnyReference(ref)
-		if err != nil {
-			continue
-		}
-		if _, ok := parsed.(docker.Canonical); ok {
-			digests = append(digests, parsed.String())
-		} else if _, ok := parsed.(docker.Tagged); ok {
-			tags = append(tags, parsed.String())
-		}
-	}
-	return tags, digests
-}
-
 // TODO (mikebrow): discuss moving this struct and / or constants for info map for some or all of these fields to CRI
 type verboseImageInfo struct {
 	ChainID   string          `json:"chainID"`
diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status_test.go b/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status_test.go
index d545b255f..cc38b2237 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/images/image_status_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	runtime "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1"
 
 	imagestore "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/store/image"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/cri/util"
 )
 
 func TestImageStatus(t *testing.T) {
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ func TestParseImageReferences(t *testing.T) {
 		"gcr.io/library/busybox:1.2",
 	}
 	expectedDigests := []string{"gcr.io/library/busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582"}
-	tags, digests := ParseImageReferences(refs)
+	tags, digests := util.ParseImageReferences(refs)
 	assert.Equal(t, expectedTags, tags)
 	assert.Equal(t, expectedDigests, digests)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cri/util/references.go b/pkg/cri/util/references.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4813f89e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cri/util/references.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+   Copyright The containerd Authors.
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package util
+
+import reference "github.com/distribution/reference"
+
+// ParseImageReferences parses a list of arbitrary image references and returns
+// the repotags and repodigests
+func ParseImageReferences(refs []string) ([]string, []string) {
+	var tags, digests []string
+	for _, ref := range refs {
+		parsed, err := reference.ParseAnyReference(ref)
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if _, ok := parsed.(reference.Canonical); ok {
+			digests = append(digests, parsed.String())
+		} else if _, ok := parsed.(reference.Tagged); ok {
+			tags = append(tags, parsed.String())
+		}
+	}
+	return tags, digests
+}