Abitrary file write through systemd-creds option
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus instances have an option to provide credentials to systemd in the guest. For containers, this is handled through a shared directory. Prior to version 6.23.0, an attacker can set a configuration key named something like `systemd.credential.../../../../../../root/.bashrc` to cause Incus to write outside of the `credentials` directory associated with the container. This makes use of the fact that the Incus syntax for such credentials is `systemd.credential.XYZ` where `XYZ` can itself contain more periods. While it's not possible to read any data this way, it's possible to write to arbitrary files as root, enabling both privilege escalation and denial of service attacks. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2026-33945
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 6 Nov 2026, 02:16 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
Abitrary file write through systemd-creds option
core-osv · Original sourcePublished 26 Mar 2026, 23:27 UTC
Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus instances have an option to provide credentials to systemd in the guest. For containers, this is handled through a shared directory. Prior to version 6.23.0, an attacker can set a configuration key named something like `systemd.credential.../../../../../../root/.bashrc` to cause Incus to write outside of the `credentials` directory associated with the container. This makes use of the fact that the Incus syntax for such credentials is `systemd.credential.XYZ` where `XYZ` can itself contain more periods. While it's not possible to read any data this way, it's possible to write to arbitrary files as root, enabling both privilege escalation and denial of service attacks. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.
osv:CVE-2026-33945
Complete source record
{
"id": "2e9457753edba7532b1fa7bfc7ca82fd0031b12ee6bf88c90221521ea29d9979",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-33945",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "Abitrary file write through systemd-creds option",
"summary": "Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus instances have an option to provide credentials to systemd in the guest. For containers, this is handled through a shared directory. Prior to version 6.23.0, an attacker can set a configuration key named something like `systemd.credential.../../../../../../root/.bashrc` to cause Incus to write outside of the `credentials` directory associated with the container. This makes use of the fact that the Incus syntax for such credentials is `systemd.credential.XYZ` where `XYZ` can itself contain more periods. While it's not possible to read any data this way, it's possible to write to arbitrary files as root, enabling both privilege escalation and denial of service attacks. Version 6.23.0 fixes the issue.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-33945",
"products": [],
"severity": "critical",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2026-33945",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-33945",
"GHSA-q4q8-7f2j-9h9f",
"GO-2026-4884"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://github.com/lxc/incus",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "5910ff48a6f5e1fa15ee3363b4f26076d6e35dda"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "6.23.0"
}
],
"source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
"strategy": "StringRangeExpression"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:linuxcontainers:incus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "6.23.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"v6.22.0",
"v6.21.0",
"v6.20.0",
"v6.19.1",
"v6.19.0",
"v6.18.0",
"v6.17.0",
"v6.16.0",
"v6.14.0",
"v6.15.0",
"v6.13.0",
"v6.12.0",
"v6.11.0",
"v6.10.1",
"v6.10.0",
"v6.9.0",
"v6.8.0",
"v6.7.0",
"v6.6.0",
"v6.5.0",
"v6.4.0",
"v6.3.0",
"v6.2.0",
"v6.0.0",
"v6.1.0",
"v0.7.0",
"v0.6.0",
"v0.5.1",
"v0.5.0",
"v0.4.0",
"v0.3.0",
"v0.2.0",
"v0.1.0"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-33945.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:46.208834382Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/33xxx/CVE-2026-33945.json",
"https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-q4q8-7f2j-9h9f",
"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33945"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-22"
],
"cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
"osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/33xxx/CVE-2026-33945.json"
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2026-33945",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 514204,
"published_at": "2026-03-26T23:27:45.711+00:00"
}