lxc lxc-user-nic insufficient ownership validation allows cross-tenant OVS port deletion
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-863.
Summary
lxc is a Linux container runtime. In the setuid helper lxc-user-nic, the delete path contains a logic flaw in the find_line() function that allows an unprivileged user to delete OVS-attached network interfaces belonging to other users. When lxc-user-nic delete scans its NIC database to authorize a deletion request, the interface name comparison can set the authorization flag based on a name match alone, even when the ownership, type, and link fields in that database entry belong to a different user. The vulnerable check sits after the goto next label handling, meaning it is reachable on lines where earlier ownership checks failed or were skipped. Because nothing downstream of this authorization signal re-verifies that the matched database line actually belongs to the caller, an unprivileged attacker with a valid lxc-usernet policy entry can trigger deletion of another user's OVS port on the same bridge. This is limited to multi-tenant environments using lxc-user-nic with OpenVSwitch bridges. The impact is denial of service - one tenant can repeatedly disconnect networking from containers run by another tenant on shared infrastructure. This is patched in version 7.0.0.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA lxc (lxc) Fixed in 7.0.0
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-39402
References
More Lxc vulnerabilities
- TI-2019-04061 runc through 1.0-rc6, as used in Docker before 18.09.2 and other products, allows… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
- TI-2016-07111 Access control flaw in LXC before 1.0.9 and 2.x before 2.0.6 CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2016-08200 An issue was discovered in Linux Containers (LXC) before 2016-02-22. CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.6
- TI-2017-13795 In LXC 2.0, many template scripts download code over cleartext HTTP, and omit a… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.1
- TI-2015-01214 lxc-start in lxc before 1.0.8 and 1.1.x before 1.1.4 allows local container… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.2
- TI-2013-05394 The lxc-sshd template (templates/lxc-sshd.in) in LXC before 1.0.0.beta2 uses read-write… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.2
Sources
- CVE-2026-39402 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-39402 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-39402 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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