CVE-2026-33897

Incus vulnerable to arbitrary file read and write through pongo templates

Published Mar 26, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 10 Critical EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Prior to version 6.23.0, instance template files can be used to cause arbitrary read or writes as root on the host server. Incus allows for pongo2 templates within instances which can be used at various times in the instance lifecycle to template files inside of the instance. This particular implementation of pongo2 within Incus allowed for file read/write but with the expectation that the pongo2 chroot feature would isolate all such access to the instance's filesystem. This was allowed such that a template could theoretically read a file and then generate a new version of said file. Unfortunately the chroot isolation mechanism is entirely skipped by pongo2 leading to easy access to the entire system's filesystem with root privileges. Version 6.23.0 patches the issue.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6188-1 lxd security update
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-83xr-5xxr-mh92 Incus vulnerable to arbitrary file read and write through pongo templates
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linuxcontainers
Linuxcontainers incus
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:linuxcontainers:incus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linuxcontainers
Linuxcontainers incus
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Lxc
Lxc incus
Vendors & Products Lxc
Lxc incus
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Prior to version 6.23.0, instance template files can be used to cause arbitrary read or writes as root on the host server. Incus allows for pongo2 templates within instances which can be used at various times in the instance lifecycle to template files inside of the instance. This particular implementation of pongo2 within Incus allowed for file read/write but with the expectation that the pongo2 chroot feature would isolate all such access to the instance's filesystem. This was allowed such that a template could theoretically read a file and then generate a new version of said file. Unfortunately the chroot isolation mechanism is entirely skipped by pongo2 leading to easy access to the entire system's filesystem with root privileges. Version 6.23.0 patches the issue.
Title Incus vulnerable to arbitrary file read and write through pongo templates
Weaknesses CWE-1336
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 10, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Mar 27, 2026, 8:02 PM
Reserved
Mar 24, 2026, 3:41 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Mar 26, 2026, 11:16 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 10:38 AM
Severity
Important
Public date
Mar 26, 2026, 10:43 PM