CVE-2026-63343
Description
A flaw was found in Incus, a system container and virtual machine manager. An authenticated Incus user can exploit this vulnerability by providing a malicious image containing a metadata.yaml symlink that points to an arbitrary host path. This allows the user to read or overwrite any file on the host with root privileges via the instance metadata API. This issue stems from improper handling of metadata.yaml symlinks, which was not included in prior patches for similar vulnerabilities.
Statement
Red Hat Product Security has determined that this vulnerability does not affect any currently supported Red Hat product. This assessment may evolve based on further analysis and discovery. For more information about this vulnerability and the products it affects, please see the linked references.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Access Control
Technical Impact: Read Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories; Bypass Protection Mechanism
An attacker may be able to traverse the file system to unintended locations and read or overwrite the contents of unexpected files. If the files are used for a security mechanism then an attacker may be able to bypass the mechanism.
Other
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Windows simple shortcuts, sometimes referred to as soft links, can be exploited remotely since a ".LNK" file can be uploaded like a normal file. This can enable remote execution.
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