Vulnerability · Published Jun 26, 2026 · Assigned by canonical
CVE-2026-9640LXD Snapshot Import Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
High 7.2
In plain English
A high-severity incorrect authorization in LXD from Canonical. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.6% (higher than 50% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in LXD from 6.0 before 6.9, 5.21.0 before 5.21.5, and 5.0.0 before 5.0.7 regarding the handling of project-restriction policies during snapshot restoration.. An authenticated project operator in a restricted multi-tenant environment can bypass policy restrictions by importing a maliciously crafted instance backup containing restricted configuration keys within a snapshot. When the snapshot is restored, these restricted keys are applied to the live instance without policy validation. Starting the modified instance grants the operator unauthorized host root access.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | lxd | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-9640 |
| Debian:13 | lxd | 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9+deb13u7 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-9640 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-863 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H