CVE-2026-12080
Published: July 14, 2026Last modified: November 6, 2026
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.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 7.3 |
| Attack Vector | LOCAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | LOW |
| User interaction | REQUIRED |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity impact | HIGH |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Notes
patch available
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | qemu | Fixed (9.0.4-r5) |
| 25 LTS | qemu | Fixed (10.0.15-r0) | |
| Stream | qemu | Unknown (8.0.2-r0) |