CVE-2026-33945 CRITICAL

CVE-2026-33945: Abitrary file write through systemd-creds option

Vendor Lxc
Product incus
Weakness CWE-22 · Path traversal
Published March 26, 2026
Last update March 27, 2026

CVSS base score

10.0/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity High

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus instances have an option to provide credentials to systemd in the guest. For containers, this is handled through a shared directory. Prior to version 6.23.0, an attacker can set a configuration key named something like `systemd.credential.../../../../../../root/.bashrc` to cause Incus to write outside of the `credentials` directory associated with the container. This makes use of the fact that the Incus syntax for such credentials is `systemd.credential.XYZ` where `XYZ` can itself contain more periods. While it's not possible to read any data this way, it's possible to write to arbitrary files as root, enabling both privilege escalation and denial of service attacks. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

March 26, 2026 CVE published
March 27, 2026 Record updated