CVE-2026-12080

HIGH

Qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

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.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Vdb Entry, X_Refsource_Redhat vdb-entry x_refsource_redhat
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12080
Issue Tracking, X_Refsource_Redhat issue-tracking x_refsource_redhat
RHBZ#2499603
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2499603

Scores

CVSS v3 7.3
EPSS 0.0014
EPSS Percentile 3.7%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-61
Status published
Products (7)
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Red Hat/Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26
Red Hat/Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Published Jul 20, 2026
Tracked Since Jul 20, 2026