Description
An authorization bypass vulnerability in LXD due to a timing flaw during configuration merging allows an authenticated attacker to bypass target project restrictions during cross-project instance copies. When copying an instance to a target project, LXD performs restriction checks before configuration merging is complete, creating a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) condition. An attacker can exploit this flaw to copy instances with disallowed high-privilege configurations into restricted projects, bypassing security controls.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical | LXD | 5.0.0 – < 5.0.8, 5.21.0 – < 5.21.6 | 5.0.8 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 13 | lxd | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | lxd | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | lxd | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | lxd | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | lxd | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | lxd | 5.21.6-bp160.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21788-1 |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21788-1 Security update for lxd SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Sep 9, 2026
References
- https://github.com/canonical/lxd/security/advisories/GHSA-v989-qw7w-xvg4 vdb-entry vendor-advisory