Canonical LXD up to 5.0.6/5.21.4/6.8 authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Canonical LXD up to 5.0.6/5.21.4/6.8. This affects an unknown part. Executing a manipulation can lead to authorization. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-9640. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Canonical LXD up to 5.0.6/5.21.4/6.8. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a authorization vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-863. The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The weakness was published by Miha Purg as GHSA-ppq7-4492-5552. The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-9640 since 05/26/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. The exploitation requires an enhanced level of successful authentication. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 323598 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-9640), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.0.7, 5.21.5 or 6.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (323598) and EUVD (EUVD-2026-39794). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Canonical

Name

• LXD

Version

• 5.0.0
• 5.0.1
• 5.0.2
• 5.0.3
• 5.0.4
• 5.0.5
• 5.0.6
• 5.21.0
• 5.21.1
• 5.21.2
• 5.21.3
• 5.21.4
• 6.0
• 6.1
• 6.2
• 6.3
• 6.4
• 6.5
• 6.6
• 6.7
• 6.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/canonical/lxd/

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VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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