{"id":"CVE-2026-53657","aliases":["GHSA-2j9v-p4xj-cjw2"],"title":"Lima: An arbitrary user in a QEMU VM could gain the root privilege in the VM via the guest agent socket","summary":"Lima: An arbitrary user in a QEMU VM could gain the root privilege in the VM via the guest agent socket","severity":"high","cvss":8.2,"cwe":["CWE-276","CWE-668"],"vendor":"lima-vm","product":"github.com/lima-vm/lima/v2","ecosystem":"go","affected":["github.com/lima-vm/lima/v2 <= 2.1.2"],"patched":["github.com/lima-vm/lima/v2 2.1.3"],"published":"2026-08-14","updated":"2026-08-14","source":"GHSA","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2j9v-p4xj-cjw2","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/security/advisories/GHSA-2j9v-p4xj-cjw2"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53657"},{"url":"https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/commit/8a45892378d22f40505c31a38f786a07701b6d50"},{"url":"https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/commit/b08cae8a670cf916d5da11c48a6de76dabd89678"},{"url":"https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/releases/tag/v2.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2j9v-p4xj-cjw2"}],"tags":["ghsa","go"],"epss":0.00197,"epssPercentile":0.09671,"ingestedAt":"2026-08-14T20:20:21.598Z","slug":"CVE-2026-53657","body":"## Overview\n\n### Impact\nOn an instance of Lima running with `qemu` driver, an arbitrary user in the VM could access `/run/lima-guestagent.sock` when the guest agent is enabled.\n\nThis could result in running an arbitrary command with the root privileges in the VM (**not on the host**), as `lima-guestagent.sock` provides the tunneling service for an arbitrary address, including a Unix socket address for privileged daemons like D-Bus.\n\nThis vulnerability is not exploitable on `vz` driver, as the guest agent uses vsocks instead of Unix sockets.\n\n### Patches\nPatched in Lima v2.1.3 (8a45892378d22f40505c31a38f786a07701b6d50)\n\n> [!NOTE]\n> The default user account in the VM can still run an arbitrary command as the root via the guest agent socket.\n> This is not a vulnerability, as the user can already run an arbitrary command with `sudo` by design.\n\n### Workarounds\n- On macOS hosts, use `vz` driver instead of `qemu` (`limactl create --vm-type=vz`. Default since v1.0.)\n- Or, disable the guest agent (`limactl create --plain`)\n\n## Affected packages\n\n- `github.com/lima-vm/lima/v2 <= 2.1.2`\n\n## Remediation\n\nUpgrade to a patched release:\n\n- `github.com/lima-vm/lima/v2 2.1.3`","depth":"twilight","depthScore":45,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":45.1,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}