CVE-2026-66897CWE-22CWE-23path-traversal

CVE-2026-66897

Critical · published August 24, 2026

CVSS v3.1
9.9
EPSS
1%
Percentile
53.3
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

A path traversal vulnerability in LXD's instance template processing allows an attacker with container edit permissions, or any user launching a crafted image, to overwrite arbitrary files on the host system as root. When processing target template paths specified in metadata.yaml, LXD validates the path against a confined os.Root directory handle but subsequently opens and creates the file using os.Create with an unconfined string path. This discrepancy between path resolution checks and file creation allows an attacker to escape directory confinement, overwrite root-owned host files, and achieve host root code execution.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
9.9 · CRITICAL
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00717 · 53.3th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'); CWE-23 · Relative Path Traversal
Published
2026-08-24T14:16Z
Affected products (4)
ProductVersionsFixed in
canonical/lxd< 4.0.134.0.13
canonical/lxd≥ 5.0.0, < 5.0.95.0.9
canonical/lxd≥ 5.1, < 5.21.75.21.7
canonical/lxd≥ 6.0, ≤ 6.9—
References (1)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 24 AUG 09:08Z
    Instance template path traversal allows arbitrary host file write as root
    cvelistv5