Description

Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Prior to version 7.2.0, a specially crafted image or instance backup can be used to read or create/write arbitrary files on the host; possibly leading to arbitrary command execution. Version 7.2.0 patches the issue.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.9",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-21T15:16:40.667Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-21T15:16:40.667Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Incus prior to version 7.2.0 is affected by an arbitrary file read and write vulnerability involving crafted system container or virtual machine images and backups.\nThe vulnerability allows an attacker to read arbitrary files on the host or create and write arbitrary files on the host filesystem.\nSuccessful exploitation of this flaw can potentially lead to arbitrary command execution on the underlying host system.\nThe affected product is Incus, specifically all versions prior to version 7.2.0.\nThe risk implications are severe, as unauthorized host file access and arbitrary write capabilities typically compromise the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the host operating system and running workloads.\nAttacker capabilities require the ability to supply or manipulate a specially crafted image or instance backup processed by the Incus system container and virtual machine manager.\nExploitation requirements depend on utilizing a maliciously constructed image or backup artifact that leverages the parsing or extraction logic flaws within the vulnerable Incus components.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides within the image and instance backup processing components of Incus prior to version 7.2.0.\nThe root cause stems from improper validation and handling of paths or archive contents provided within specially crafted container or virtual machine images and instance backups.\nWhen Incus processes these malicious artifacts, insufficient sanitization allows path traversal or unsafe file operations during the extraction or restoration phases.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: First, an attacker constructs a malicious system container image or virtual machine backup containing manipulated internal paths or symbolic links. Second, the attacker induces Incus to import, restore, or process this crafted artifact. Third, during the processing of the archive, the application fails to restrict file read or write operations to the intended isolated directories. Consequently, the extraction mechanism reads sensitive data from arbitrary locations on the host or writes attacker-controlled content directly to arbitrary file paths on the host filesystem.\nThis behavior facilitates unauthorized data exposure via arbitrary file read and enables the placement of malicious binaries, configuration modifications, or code injection via arbitrary file write.\nPost-exploitation impact includes the potential achievement of arbitrary command execution on the host, depending on which critical system files or executable paths are overwritten or manipulated during the attack.\nAffected versions include all releases of Incus prior to version 7.2.0.\nAuthentication and privilege requirements, network exposure, and payload behavior are dictated by the specific context in which the administrative operations or image processing tasks are executed within the affected environment."
}