Upstream information
Description
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus provides an API to retrieve VM screenshots. That API relies on the use of a temporary file for QEMU to write the screenshot to which is then picked up and sent to the user prior to deletion. As versions prior to 6.23.0 use predictable paths under /tmp for this, an attacker with local access to the system can abuse this mechanism by creating their own symlinks ahead of time. On the vast majority of Linux systems, this will result in a "Permission denied" error when requesting a screenshot. That's because the Linux kernel has a security feature designed to block such attacks, `protected_symlinks`. On the rare systems with this purposefully disabled, it's then possible to trick Incus intro truncating and altering the mode and permissions of arbitrary files on the filesystem, leading to a potential denial of service or possible local privilege escalation. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.SUSE information
Overall state of this security issue: Does not affect SUSE products
This issue is currently rated as having moderate severity.
| CVSS detail | CNA (GitHub) |
|---|---|
| Base Score | 4.7 |
| Vector | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
| Attack Vector | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low |
| Attack Requirements | Present |
| Privileges Required | Low |
| User Interaction | None |
| Vulnerable System Confidentiality Impact | None |
| Vulnerable System Integrity Impact | High |
| Vulnerable System Availability Impact | None |
| Subsequent System Confidentiality Impact | None |
| Subsequent System Integrity Impact | None |
| Subsequent System Availability Impact | None |
| CVSSv4 Version | 4.0 |
SUSE Timeline for this CVE
CVE page created: Fri Mar 27 02:00:26 2026CVE page last modified: Fri Mar 27 20:57:43 2026