---
title: "CVE-2026-33945: Incus has an abitrary file write through its systemd-creds options"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-33945/
description: "CVE-2026-33945 (github.com/lxc/incus/v6 (Go)): Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. Incus instances have an option to provide…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2026-03-26
date_modified: 2026-03-27
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2026-33945"
kev: false
cvss: 10
epss: 0.00526
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2026-33945: Incus has an abitrary file write through its systemd-creds options

**Signal:** Critical, preconditions apply. Severe if exploited, but exploitation needs conditions that may not apply to you. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
- EPSS 0.5% , percentile 44: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.5% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Needs an account (low (any account)). Exposure depends on who can log in.
- Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/lxc/incus/v6 (Go) < 6.23.0, fixed in 6.23.0 . Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

## What it is

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.

## Affected packages

- Go `github.com/lxc/incus/v6` < 6.23.0 → fixed: 6.23.0

## Affected products (CVE record)

- lxc incus: < 6.23.0

## Severity

- GitHub_M CVSS 3.1: 10 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
- GitHub CVSS 3.1: 9.9 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none , automatable no , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.53% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 44.

## Sources

- [GitHub Advisory GHSA-q4q8-7f2j-9h9f](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-q4q8-7f2j-9h9f)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2026-33945](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33945)
- [NVD entry CVE-2026-33945](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33945)
- [github.com](https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-q4q8-7f2j-9h9f)
- [github.com](https://github.com/lxc/incus/commit/f74199f9983e2ce78f2b78b6d765c6635b229c82)

---
Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-33945/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt