A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). (CVE-2026-12080)
A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). A local unprivileged user can exploit a vulnerability in the guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys command handler by manipulating symbolic links. This can occur either through a deterministic directory-symlink bypass or a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) file-symlink race. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to gain ownership of arbitrary root-owned files or directories, leading to root access. This vulnerability requires an external management layer (e.g., libvirt) to trigger the affected code path.
A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). (CVE-2026-12080)
Description
A flaw was found in the QEMU Guest Agent (qga). A local unprivileged user can exploit a vulnerability in the guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys command handler by manipulating symbolic links. This can occur either through a deterministic directory-symlink bypass or a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) file-symlink race. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to gain ownership of arbitrary root-owned files or directories, leading to root access. This vulnerability requires an external management layer (e.g., libvirt) to trigger the affected code path.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.3high
Affected software
pkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=esm-infra-legacy/trustypkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=esm-infra-legacy/xenialpkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=esm-infra/bionicpkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=esm-infra/focalpkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=jammypkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=noblepkg:deb/ubuntu/qemu?arch=source&distro=resoluteRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- UBUNTU-CVE-2026-12080
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.7.0
- Aliases
- []
- Ecosystems
- ["Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS","Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS","Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS","Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS","Ubuntu:22.04:LTS","Ubuntu:24.04:LTS","Ubuntu:26.04:LTS"]
- Database Specific Severity
- null
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
Threat ID: 6a74cf9cbf8831d5391b0126
Added to database: 08/06/2026, 18:17:00 UTC
Last updated: 08/07/2026, 03:33:20 UTC
Views: 3
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