Is CVE-2026-9640 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-9640 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-9640?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 26 June 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Canonical LXD 6.0 before 6.9, 5.21.0 before 5.21.5, 5.0.0 before 5.0.7.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-9640?

A patch was published on 2026-05-19: Initial fix merged into main branch Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-9640 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-9640?

Check whether you run Canonical LXD at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-9640: Canonical LXD privilege escalation via snapshot restoration in restricted projects

CVE-2026-9640 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.2 · Published 2026-06-26

A security vulnerability in LXD, a popular container and virtual machine manager, allows users with restricted access to gain full control over the host server. In multi-tenant environments where users are supposed to be isolated, an attacker can bypass security policies by importing a specially crafted backup file containing hidden malicious settings. Once this backup is restored, the attacker can gain root-level access to the entire physical or virtual host, potentially compromising all other data and services on that machine.

Technologies: Canonical LXD. Vendors: Canonical.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-9640 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-9640 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-9640?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 26 June 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Canonical LXD 6.0 before 6.9, 5.21.0 before 5.21.5, 5.0.0 before 5.0.7.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-9640?: A patch was published on 2026-05-19: Initial fix merged into main branch Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-9640 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-9640?: Check whether you run Canonical LXD at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in LXD's handling of project-restriction policies during snapshot restoration. While LXD enforces security policies (such as blocking 'raw.lxc' or 'security.privileged' keys) on the parent instance during a backup import, it fails to validate these same configuration keys within the snapshot metadata stored in the backup's 'index.yaml'. An authenticated operator in a restricted project can import a crafted backup containing restricted keys in a snapshot; when that snapshot is restored, the 'instanceSnapRestore' handler applies the configuration to the live instance without re-running policy checks. This allows the attacker to bypass 'restricted=true' settings and gain host root access. Patches are available in versions 6.9, 5.21.5, and 5.0.7.

Affected products

Canonical LXD 6.0 before 6.9, 5.21.0 before 5.21.5, 5.0.0 before 5.0.7

Timeline

2026-05-19: patched: Initial fix merged into main branch
2026-06-26: advisory: GHSA-ppq7-4492-5552 published
2026-06-26: disclosed: CVE-2026-9640 published

References

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