GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf — v6
Fix: lxc/incus#2642GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf is a Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in github.com/lxc/incus/v6. A fix is available for github.com/lxc/incus/v6 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Incus vulnerable to local privilege escalation through custom storage volumes
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf.
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.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/lxc/incus/v6Real-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
Impact
This affects any Incus user in an environment where an unprivileged user may have root access to a container with an attached custom storage volume that has the security.shifted property set to true as well as access to the host as an unprivileged user.
The most common case for this would be systems using incus-user with the less privileged incus group to provide unprivileged users with an isolated restricted access to Incus. Such users may be able to create a custom storage volume with the necessary property (depending on kernel and filesystem support) and can then write a setuid binary from within the container which can be executed as an unpriivleged user on the host to gain root privileges.
Patches
A patch for this issue is available here: https://github.com/lxc/incus/pull/2642
The first commit changes the permissions for any new storage pool, the second commit applies it on startup to all existing storage pools.
Workarounds
Permissions can be manually restricted until a patched version of Incus is deployed.
This is done with:
chmod 0700 /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/*/*
chmod 0711 /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/*/buckets*
chmod 0711 /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/*/container*
Those are the same permissions which will be applied by the patched Incus for both new and existing storage pools.
References
This was reported publicly on Github by here: https://github.com/lxc/incus/issues/2641
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/lxc/incus/v6 | all versions | 6.19.0go get github.com/lxc/incus/v6@v6.19.0 |
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/v6, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/lxc/incus/v6 to 6.19.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf 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 GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-56mx-8g9f-5crf across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.