CVE-2026-12080

CVE Details

Release Date:	2026-07-20
Impact:	Important	What is this?

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.

See more information about CVE-2026-12080 from MITRE CVE dictionary and NIST NVD

NOTE: The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 metrics

Base Score:	7.3
Vector String:	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Version:	3.1
Attack Vector:	Local
Attack Complexity:	Low
Privileges Required:	Low
User Interaction:	Required
Scope:	Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact:	High
Integrity Impact:	High
Availability Impact:	High

Errata information

Platform	Errata	Release Date
Oracle Linux version 9 (qemu-kvm)	ELSA-2026-88421	2026-11-03