CVE-2026-12080
Qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys
HIGH 7.3
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- EPSS
- EPSS 0.14 % · percentile 3 ()
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- redhat
- NVD status
- Awaiting Analysis
Description
A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). A local unprivileged user can exploit a vulnerability in the guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys command handler by manipulating symbolic links. This can occur either through a deterministic directory-symlink bypass or a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) file-symlink race. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to gain ownership of arbitrary root-owned files or directories, leading to root access. This vulnerability requires an external management layer (e.g., libvirt) to trigger the affected code path.
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-61 — UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following
References
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH 7.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | redhat |
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH 7.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | NVD · secalert@redhat.com (Secondary) |
European references
- ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-45941
- GCVE · GCVE-0-2026-12080
Affected products
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST — attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |