diff --git a/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb b/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
index 74b7b4df..69a15709 100644
--- a/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
+++ b/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
@@ -97,6 +97,10 @@ def details
   def exec(*cmd)
     cmd = Kamal::Utils.join_commands(cmd)
     env = options[:env]
+    unless options[:reuse]
+      say "Log into image registry...", :magenta
+      invoke "kamal:cli:registry:login", [], {skip_local: true}
+    end
     case
     when options[:interactive] && options[:reuse]
       say "Get current version of running container...", :magenta unless options[:version]
diff --git a/test/cli/app_test.rb b/test/cli/app_test.rb
index 5e76179c..da33a8e3 100644
--- a/test/cli/app_test.rb
+++ b/test/cli/app_test.rb
@@ -299,6 +299,17 @@ class CliAppTest < CliTestCase
     end
   end
 
+  test "exec logs into the container registry remotely for new containers" do
+    run_command("exec", "ruby -v").tap do |output|
+      assert_no_match /docker login -u \[REDACTED\] -p \[REDACTED\] as .*@localhost/, output
+      assert_match /docker login -u \[REDACTED\] -p \[REDACTED\] on 1.1.1.\d/, output
+    end
+    # Login is never required if reuse
+    run_command("exec", "-i", "--reuse", "ruby -v").tap do |output|
+      assert_no_match /docker login -u \[REDACTED\] -p \[REDACTED\] on 1.1.1.\d/, output
+    end
+  end
+
   test "containers" do
     run_command("containers").tap do |output|
       assert_match "docker container ls --all --filter label=service=app", output