Incus
CVE-2026-23953
HIGH
GHSA-x6jc-phwx-hp32
Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessUser creates container with malicious YAML config
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ExploitInject newlines in environment variable
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ExecutionModify lxc.conf with lifecycle hooks
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ImpactExecute arbitrary commands on host
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization CRLF sequence sanitization
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| Exploitation Conditions | Local access required; attacker must be member of 'incus' group or have container launch privileges; ability to provide custom YAML configuration to Incus 6.20.0 or below |
| Impact | CVSS 8.7 (HIGH). Attack vector: Adjacent Network. Complexity: Low. Privileges required: Low. User interaction: None. Public exploit/POC available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to adding arbitrary lifecycle hooks, ultimately resulting in arbitrary command exec. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 12, 2026
Incus contains a vulnerability that allows attackers to adding arbitrary lifecycle hooks, ultimately resulting in arbitrary command exec (CVSS 8.7).
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available — apply it immediately.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
affects Incus. Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. In versions 6.20.0 and below, a user with the ability to launch a container with a custom YAML configuration (e.g a member of the ‘incus’ group) can create an environment variable containing newlines, which can be used to add additional configuration items in the container’s lxc.conf due to newline injection. This can allow adding arbitrary lifecycle hooks, ultimately resulting in arbitrary command execution on the host. Exploiting this is
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionGitHub Advisory
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. In versions 6.20.0 and below, a user with the ability to launch a container with a custom YAML configuration (e.g a member of the ‘incus’ group) can create an environment variable containing newlines, which can be used to add additional configuration items in the container’s lxc.conf due to newline injection. This can allow adding arbitrary lifecycle hooks, ultimately resulting in arbitrary command execution on the host. Exploiting this issue on IncusOS requires a slight modification of the payload to change to a different writable directory for the validation step (e.g /tmp). This can be confirmed with a second container with /tmp mounted from the host (A privileged action for validation only). A fix is planned for versions 6.0.6 and 6.21.0, but they have not been released at the time of publication.
Executive ViewAI
CVE-2026-23953 is a high-severity vulnerability in Incus that allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands by injecting malicious lifecycle hooks, potentially compromising any system running affected versions. Organizations using Incus for container/virtualization management face immediate risk of unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within their infrastructure.
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Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Code injection occurs when an application accepts user input and passes it directly into a language interpreter or evaluator without proper sanitization.
Affected Products (CPE)GitHub Advisory
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. [CVSS 8.7 HIGH]
Path traversal in Incus system container manager allows authenticated remote attackers to write arbitrary files as root
Incus system container and virtual machine manager versions prior to 6.23.0 allow authenticated users with instance acce
Arbitrary file write in Incus (before 6.0.7, 6.1.0 before 7.0.2, and 7.1.0 before 7.5.0) allows an authenticated client
Authentication bypass in Incus webui (versions prior to 6.23.0) permits local or remote attackers to gain unauthorized a
Project isolation bypass in Incus lets an authenticated client that is confined to one project copy and read custom stor
Authenticated restricted TLS clients on Incus can retrieve S3 access and secret keys for storage buckets in the default
Incus servers that use multi-project tenancy expose in-flight operations across project boundaries because the GET /1.0/
Denial of service in Incus prior to version 6.23.0 allows authenticated users with storage bucket access to crash the In
Incus versions prior to 6.23.0 fail to validate image fingerprints when downloading from simplestreams servers, enabling
Incus versions prior to 6.23.0 allow local authenticated attackers to manipulate temporary screenshot files via predicta
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.6), this vulnerability is no authen
Same technique Code Injection
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: High| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Fixed |
Exploit-DB