Path Traversal in Canonical Lxd
CVE-2026-16033
A path traversal vulnerability in LXD allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary host file read or unconstrained file creation. When processing image metadata templates, LXD fails to properly sanitize or restrict template file paths from escaping the instance templates directory (specifically affecting virtual machine / QEMU driver execution paths). An attacker can exploit this flaw by providing a crafted image archive with malicious template directives containing path traversal sequences, causing LXD to access or write files outside the intended template directory on the host system.
Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 8.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.004 (26.3th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 26th percentile — 26.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.001
Affected products
- Canonical Lxd — versions 4.0.0, 5.0.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/canonical/lxd/security/advisories/GHSA-9hcm-hxh5-7xxh (Exploit, vendor-advisory, vdb-entry, Vendor Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-16033?
- CVE-2026-16033 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Lxd, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 8.5/10. Published 2026-08-12.
- How severe is CVE-2026-16033?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.5 out of 10.