SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-66897

A path traversal vulnerability in LXD's instance template processing allows an attacker with container edit permissions, or any user launching a crafted image, to overwrite arbitrary files on the host system as root.

CRITICAL 9.9EPSS 0.67%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.67%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

A path traversal vulnerability in LXD's instance template processing allows an attacker with container edit permissions, or any user launching a crafted image, to overwrite arbitrary files on the host system as root. When processing target template paths specified in metadata.yaml, LXD validates the path against a confined os.Root directory handle but subsequently opens and creates the file using os.Create with an unconfined string path. This discrepancy between path resolution checks and file creation allows an attacker to escape directory confinement, overwrite root-owned host files, and achieve host root code execution.

CVSS 3.1
9.9 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.67% probability · 50th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-22, CWE-23
Affected
canonical/lxd
Source
security@ubuntu.com

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.