High severity · published Jan 22, 2026
CVE-2026-23954
Incus container image templating arbitrary host file read and write
8.7
CVSS
0.8%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Versions 6.21.0 and below allow a user with the ability to launch a container with a custom image (e.g a member of the ‘incus’ group) to use directory traversal or symbolic links in the templating functionality to achieve host arbitrary file read, and host arbitrary file write. This ultimately results in arbitrary command execution on the host. When using an image with a metadata.yaml containing templates, both the source and target paths are not checked for symbolic links or directory traversal. This can also be exploited in IncusOS. A fix is planned for versions 6.0.6 and 6.21.0, but they have not been released at the time of publication.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.8% · higher than 56% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
IN
incus · lxc
>= 6.1.0, <= 6.20.0; <= 6.0.5 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23954
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23954
Product
https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/HEAD/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_lxc.go#L7215
Product
https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/HEAD/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_lxc.go#L7294
Exploit
https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-7f67-crqm-jgh7
Exploit
https://github.com/user-attachments/files/24473599/template_arbitrary_write.sh
Patch
https://github.com/user-attachments/files/24473601/templates_arbitrary_write.patch
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