Vulnerability · Published Mar 26, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-33898Local Incus UI web server vulnerable to nuthentication bypass
High 8.8
In plain English
A high-severity improper authentication in incus from lxc. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 29% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Prior to version 6.23.0, the web server spawned by `incus webui` incorrectly validates the authentication token such that an invalid value will be accepted. `incus webui` runs a local web server on a random localhost port. For authentication, it provides the user with a URL containing an authentication token. When accessed with that token, Incus creates a cookie persisting that token without needing to include it in subsequent HTTP requests. While the Incus client correctly validates the value of the cookie, it does not correctly validate the token when passed int the URL. This allows for an attacker able to locate and talk to the temporary web server on localhost to have as much access to Incus as the user who ran `incus webui`. This can lead to privilege escalation by another local user or an access to the user's Incus instances and possibly system resources by a remote attack able to trick the local user into interacting with the Incus UI web server. Version 6.23.0 patches the issue.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:13 | incus | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-33898 |
| Debian:14 | incus | 7.0.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-33898 |
| Go | github.com/lxc/incus | no fix listed | GO-2026-4879 |
| Go | github.com/lxc/incus/v6 | 6.23.0 | GO-2026-4879 |
| Go | github.com/lxc/incus/v6/cmd/incus | 6.23.0 | GHSA-453r-g2pg-cxxq |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | incus | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-33898 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | incus | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-33898 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-287 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-453r-g2pg-cxxq x_refsource_CONFIRM