CVE-2026-100395
MediumCVSS 6.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk4th percentile - higher than 4% of all known CVEs
Summary
In LXC 7.0.0 and earlier, lxc-copy and the public liblxc clone() API can follow attacker-controlled symbolic links while updating /etc/hostname in a copied container root filesystem. The privileged cloning process must run as root, and the source rootfs must be attacker-controlled or less trusted. A symlink can be placed at etc/hostname or in an intermediate component, and the clone operation preserves the symlink before updating the hostname, causing the privileged process to overwrite an existing host file outside the destination rootfs. Unprivileged use and managers with independent cloning implementations are not affected, and LXC_CLONE_KEEPNAME avoids the affected write.
Risk Assessment
A privileged root process can overwrite an arbitrary existing host file with the destination container name, potentially leading to system corruption or privilege escalation. The risk applies to root cloning untrusted containers.
Recommendation
Upgrade LXC to a version later than 7.0.0. Avoid cloning untrusted containers as root or use the LXC_CLONE_KEEPNAME option.
Other vulnerabilities in LXC
See all- CVE-2015-1335High
A vulnerability in lxc before version 1.0.8 and 1.1.x before version 1.1.4 allows local container administrators to escape AppArmor confinement via a symlink attack on (1) mount target or (2) bind mount source.
- CVE-2026-39402Medium
lxc, a Linux container runtime, has a logic flaw in the find_line() function of the setuid helper lxc-user-nic, allowing an unprivileged user to delete OVS-attached network interfaces belonging to other users. This affects multi-tenant environments using OpenVSwitch bridges. An attacker can repeatedly disconnect networking from containers of other tenants, causing denial of service. The issue is fixed in version 7.0.0.
Original NVD description (English source)
LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features used to create and manage system containers. In LXC 7.0.0 and earlier, lxc-copy and the public liblxc clone() API can follow attacker-controlled symbolic links while updating /etc/hostname in a copied container root filesystem. The affected surfaces are lxc-copy and liblxc's public lxc_container::clone() API. The privileged cloning process must run as root. The source rootfs must be attacker-controlled or less trusted. A symlink can be placed at etc/hostname or in an intermediate component. The clone operation preserves the symlink before updating the hostname. The vulnerable write truncates and overwrites an existing file outside the destination rootfs. When root clones an untrusted container without LXC_CLONE_KEEPNAME, the copied symlink can resolve outside the destination rootfs and cause the privileged process to overwrite an existing host file with the destination container name. Unprivileged use and managers with independent cloning implementations are not affected. LXC_CLONE_KEEPNAME avoids the hostname update and therefore the affected write.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

