---
id: "CVE-2026-115378"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-115378"]
title: "Incus: malicious VM agent can write arbitrary host files during recursive pull"
severity: "medium"
cvss: 6.9
epss: 0.00241
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "infrastructure"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["incus", "infrastructure", "self-hosted", "virtual-machines"]
not_affected_if: ["no-vm-workloads", "patched-release"]
published_at: "2026-10-22T19:17:44+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-23T21:57:31+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-25T03:38:49+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-115378", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T21:57:31+00:00"}, {"source": "epss", "url": "https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-115378", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-24T07:15:51+00:00"}]
---

# Incus: malicious VM agent can write arbitrary host files during recursive pull

Incus before 6.0.7, 6.1.0 before 7.0.2, and 7.1.0 before 7.5.0 let a malicious incus-agent inside a virtual machine escape the target directory during recursive file pulls. An attacker with root in a VM can write attacker-controlled files such as /etc/shadow on the operator's host.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- Run `incus version` on the operator host and compare against the fixed releases
- Check whether any virtual machines are in use with `incus list --format csv -c nt` (unknown whether this narrows exposure further)

## Fix

- Upgrade Incus to `6.0.7`, `7.0.2` or `7.5.0`, matching the release line in use

## Timeline

- 2026-10-23T21:57:31+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-115378
- 2026-10-24T07:15:51+00:00 epss https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-115378

## From the sources

Incus before 6.0.7, 6.1.0 before 7.0.2, and 7.1.0 before 7.5.0 contains an arbitrary file write vulnerability in sftpRecursivePullFile that allows a malicious incus-agent to escape the target directory during incus file pull -r. Attackers with root in a virtual machine can return duplicate entries reported first as symlinks then as files or directories, writing attacker-controlled files such as /etc/shadow on the operator's host.

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_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_