Vulnerability · Published Aug 10, 2026 · Assigned by redhat

CVE-2026-63622Libvirt: swtpm privilege escalation via symlink following

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 from Red Hat. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 4% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 96.5% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

A flaw was found in libvirt. A local attacker, specifically a process running as the confined `swtpm` user, could exploit a symlink-following vulnerability in the `virFileChownFiles()` function. By planting a symbolic link within the `swtpm` state directory, the attacker could trick the root-level libvirt daemon into changing the ownership of an arbitrary file to the `swtpm` user. This allows for privilege escalation from the `swtpm` sandbox to root-level file ownership control.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-client	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-client	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-client-qemu	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-client-qemu	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-common	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-common	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-config-network	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-config-network	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-config-nwfilter	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-config-nwfilter	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-interface	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-interface	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-network	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-network	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-nodedev	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-nodedev	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-nwfilter	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-nwfilter	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-secret	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-secret	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-core	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-core	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-disk	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-disk	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-iscsi	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-iscsi	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-logical	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-logical	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-mpath	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-mpath	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-rbd	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-rbd	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-scsi	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-scsi	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-kvm	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-kvm	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-lock	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-lock	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-log	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-log	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-plugin-lockd	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-plugin-lockd	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-plugin-sanlock	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-plugin-sanlock	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-daemon-proxy	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-daemon-proxy	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-devel	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-devel	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-docs	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-docs	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-libs	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-libs	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-nss	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-nss	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
AlmaLinux:10	libvirt-ssh-proxy	11.10.0-12.9.el10_2.alma.1	ALSA-2026:75583
AlmaLinux:9	libvirt-ssh-proxy	11.10.0-12.7.el9_8.alma.1	ALSA-2026:74424
Debian:12	libvirt	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-63622
Debian:13	libvirt	11.3.0-3+deb13u3	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-63622
Debian:14	libvirt	12.6.0-1	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-63622
Rocky Linux:10	libvirt	0:11.10.0-12.9.el10_2	RLSA-2026:75583
Rocky Linux:9	libvirt	0:11.10.0-12.7.el9_8	RLSA-2026:74424
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	libvirt	8.0.0-1ubuntu7.19	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-63622
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	libvirt	8.0.0-1ubuntu7.19	USN-8652-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	libvirt	10.0.0-2ubuntu8.16	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-63622
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	libvirt	10.0.0-2ubuntu8.16	USN-8652-1
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	libvirt	12.0.0-1ubuntu5.3	USN-8652-1
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	libvirt	12.0.0-1ubuntu5.3	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-63622
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	libvirt-hwe	12.0.0-1ubuntu5.5	USN-8833-1
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	libvirt-hwe	12.0.0-1ubuntu5.5	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-63622

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutions	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Update Services for SAP Solutions	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.6 Extended Update Support	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	see references
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26	see references

Weakness: CWE-59 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

RHSA-2026:64773 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:65515 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:65516 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:65803 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:68513 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:68594 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:69114 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:69131 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:74424 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHSA-2026:75583 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-63622 vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
RHBZ#2513065 issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT