LXD vulnerability

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.

Published 12 Aug 2026Updated 11 Sep 20263 sources
CVSS 9.9 ✓ VERIFIED REFERENCE

What happened

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 versions

LXD: 5.0.0 through before 5.0.8 (semver); 5.21.0 through before 5.21.6 (semver) Fixed: See vendor advisory.

Why it matters

Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.

Detection & mitigation

  • Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
  • Review affected product exposure and access logs.

Public PoC references

RepositoryAuthorFirst seenReference
github.comNVD reference2026-08-12Verified