CVE-2026-12080 (CVSS 7.3)

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.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

7.3

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0018

Probability of exploitation

0.08%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-61 CWE-61

References

Other References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12080 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2499603 https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/work_items/3929

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-12080? +

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. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.3 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-12080? +

CVE-2026-12080 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.3 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0018, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-12080? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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