CVE-2026-53657 in Lima
Summary
by MITRE • 07/10/2026
Lima launches Linux virtual machines, typically on macOS, for running containerd. Prior to 2.1.3, on an instance of Lima running with the qemu driver, an arbitrary user in the VM could access /run/lima-guestagent.sock when the guest agent is enabled, which could result in running arbitrary commands with root privileges in the VM because the guest agent socket provides tunneling for arbitrary addresses, including Unix socket addresses for privileged daemons like D-Bus. This issue is fixed in version 2.1.3.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/10/2026
The vulnerability in Lima versions prior to 2.1.3 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within Linux virtual machine environments typically deployed on macOS systems. Lima serves as a container development environment that leverages QEMU virtualization to run Linux VMs with containerd as the primary container runtime. The security issue stems from insufficient access controls on the guest agent socket file located at /run/lima-guestagent.sock, which becomes accessible to unprivileged users within the virtual machine environment.
The technical flaw manifests through improper Unix socket permissions and access control mechanisms that allow any user within the VM to connect to the lima-guestagent.sock endpoint. This socket serves as a communication tunnel that facilitates arbitrary address forwarding, including privileged Unix domain sockets such as D-Bus endpoints that are typically protected by system-level access controls. The guest agent functionality is designed to provide enhanced VM management capabilities, but its implementation creates an attack surface where local privilege escalation becomes possible through the manipulation of this socket interface.
This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-276, which addresses improper permissions for critical resources, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068, which covers 'Exploitation for Privilege Escalation.' The operational impact is severe as it enables any local user within the VM to execute commands with root privileges, effectively compromising the entire virtual machine environment. Attackers can exploit this weakness to gain full administrative control over the containerized applications and underlying system services running within the VM.
The vulnerability exploitation pathway involves an attacker first gaining access to a regular user account within the Linux VM, then connecting to the exposed socket interface to establish communication with privileged system daemons. Through the tunneling capabilities of the guest agent socket, the attacker can effectively bypass normal access controls and execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges. The fix implemented in version 2.1.3 addresses this by properly configuring socket permissions and access controls to prevent unauthorized local users from accessing the privileged communication channel.
Organizations using Lima for container development should immediately upgrade to version 2.1.3 or later to mitigate this risk, as the vulnerability could be exploited in environments where multiple users have access to the VMs or where untrusted code execution is possible within the containerized environment. The remediation process involves proper privilege separation and socket access control implementation that aligns with security best practices for virtualization platforms.