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CVE-2026-33711

Linuxcontainers Incus privilege escalation

7.8 HIGHPublic exploitEPSS 0.18%
  1. Published26 Mar 2026

Description

Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus provides an API to retrieve VM screenshots. That API relies on the use of a temporary file for QEMU to write the screenshot to which is then picked up and sent to the user prior to deletion. As versions prior to 6.23.0 use predictable paths under /tmp for this, an attacker with local access to the system can abuse this mechanism by creating their own symlinks ahead of time. On the vast majority of Linux systems, this will result in a "Permission denied" error when requesting a screenshot. That's because the Linux kernel has a security feature designed to block such attacks, `protected_symlinks`. On the rare systems with this purposefully disabled, it's then possible to trick Incus intro truncating and altering the mode and permissions of arbitrary files on the filesystem, leading to a potential denial of service or possible local privilege escalation. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorLocal
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredLow
User interactionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Linuxcontainers Incus< 6.23.0

Remediation

Fixed in
Linuxcontainers Incus≥ 6.23.0

References

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Frequently asked

Is CVE-2026-33711 being actively exploited?

CVE-2026-33711 is not in the CISA KEV catalog. A public exploit reference exists, so treat it as exploitable. Its EPSS exploit probability is 0.18%.

How severe is CVE-2026-33711?

CVE-2026-33711 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8, rated high. EPSS estimates a 0.18% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2026-33711?

Affected products include Linuxcontainers Incus.

How do I fix CVE-2026-33711?

Upgrade affected software to a fixed version, for example Linuxcontainers Incus 6.23.0 or later, then confirm no affected versions remain in your inventory.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2026-33711 against the real software inventory on every managed device, as each hourly inventory arrives. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

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Data from the NVD, CISA KEV catalog and FIRST EPSS. CVSS 3.1 base score shown where available.