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.
Published: 2026-07-20
Score: 7.3 High
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

Vendor Workaround

If the `guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys` command is not required, it can be disabled by adding it to the qemu-guest-agent block list (qemu-ga --block-rpcs). This prevents the vulnerable code path from being reached while preserving all other guest-agent functionality.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description No description is available for this CVE. 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.
Title qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: Local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys Qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat enterprise Linux Nvidia
Redhat openshift
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux_nvidia:
cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat enterprise Linux Nvidia
Redhat openshift
References

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Qemu
Qemu qemu
Vendors & Products Qemu
Qemu qemu

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description No description is available for this CVE.
Title qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: Local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys
Weaknesses CWE-61
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

threat_severity

Important


Subscriptions

Qemu Qemu
Redhat Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux Nvidia Openshift
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-07-20T19:08:22.324Z

Reserved: 2026-06-12T12:44:56.002Z

Link: CVE-2026-12080

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-07-20T18:03:38.950Z

cve-icon NVD

No data.

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Important

Publid Date: 2026-07-09T10:57:00Z

Links: CVE-2026-12080 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-07-21T21:00:13Z

Weaknesses