---
id: CVE-2026-16033
title: >-
  A path traversal vulnerability in LXD allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary
  host file read or unconstrained file creation
summary: >-
  A path traversal vulnerability in LXD allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary
  host file read or unconstrained file creation. When processing image metadata
  templates, LXD fails to properly sanitize or restrict template file paths from
  es…
severity: high
cvss: 8.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-22
vendor: canonical
product: lxd
affected:
  - 'lxd >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.12'
  - 'lxd >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.7'
patched:
  - lxd 5.0.7
published: '2026-08-12'
updated: '2026-09-11'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-11T18:23:30.367'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16033'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/canonical/lxd/security/advisories/GHSA-9hcm-hxh5-7xxh'
    label: security@ubuntu.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/canonical/lxd/security/advisories/GHSA-9hcm-hxh5-7xxh'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00351
epssPercentile: 0.26129
ingestedAt: '2026-09-11T18:53:56.458Z'
---

## Overview

A path traversal vulnerability in LXD allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary host file read or unconstrained file creation. When processing image metadata templates, LXD fails to properly sanitize or restrict template file paths from escaping the instance templates directory (specifically affecting virtual machine / QEMU driver execution paths). An attacker can exploit this flaw by providing a crafted image archive with malicious template directives containing path traversal sequences, causing LXD to access or write files outside the intended template directory on the host system.

## Affected

- `lxd >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.12`
- `lxd >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.7`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `lxd 5.0.7`