High severity · published Jul 20, 2026
CVE-2026-12080
Qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys
7.3
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). A local unprivileged user can exploit a vulnerability in the guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys command handler by manipulating symbolic links. This can occur either through a deterministic directory-symlink bypass or a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) file-symlink race. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to gain ownership of arbitrary root-owned files or directories, leading to root access. This vulnerability requires an external management layer (e.g., libvirt) to trigger the affected code path.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 3% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12080
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-12080
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:88421
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12080
bugzilla.redhat.com
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2499603
gitlab.com
https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/work_items/3929
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