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Abitrary file write through systemd-creds option

Type: advisorySources: OSV

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 source

Published 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"
}