CVE-2026-12080

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

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.

Severity

HIGH

CVSS score

7.3 (v3.1)

Vulnerability status

Awaiting Analysis

Source identifier

[email protected]

Published

2026-07-20 13:16:55.543000

Last modified

2026-10-30 06:16:48.783000

View original CVE JSON

{
  "id": "CVE-2026-12080",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-07-20T13:16:55.543",
  "lastModified": "2026-10-30T06:16:48.783",
  "vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "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."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream"
          ],
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "17:10.1.0-17.el9_8.9",
              "lessThan": "*",
              "versionType": "rpm",
              "status": "unaffected"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm-ma",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "virt:rhel/qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26",
          "defaultStatus": "unknown",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "qemu-kvm",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux_nvidia:"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:5"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "baseScore": 7.3,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
          "userInteraction": "REQUIRED",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.3,
        "impactScore": 5.9
      }
    ],
    "ssvcV203": [
      {
        "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
        "ssvcData": {
          "timestamp": "2026-07-20T18:03:34.730903Z",
          "id": "CVE-2026-12080",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
            },
            {
              "automatable": "no"
            },
            {
              "technicalImpact": "total"
            }
          ],
          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "version": "2.0.3"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Secondary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-61"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:88421",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12080",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2499603",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/work_items/3929",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}