{"id":56586,"date":"2025-07-02T01:57:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T01:57:55","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-30T20:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:33:15","slug":"cve-2025-52890-critical-acl-bypass-vulnerability-in-incus-system-container-and-virtual-machine-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52890-critical-acl-bypass-vulnerability-in-incus-system-container-and-virtual-machine-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"CVE-2025-52890: Critical ACL Bypass Vulnerability in Incus System Container and Virtual Machine Manager<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cyber world is under a significant threat from a recently disclosed vulnerability CVE-2025-52890. This vulnerability resides in the Incus system container and virtual machine manager, specifically affecting versions 6.12 and 6.13. The flaw lies in the generation of nftables rules that inadvertently bypass integral security options, leading to potential<\/a> ARP spoofing and VM\/container spoofing on the same bridge. The reason this vulnerability is of critical<\/a> concern is because of its potential to compromise entire systems or lead to severe data leakage.<\/p>\n

Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

CVE ID: CVE-2025-52890
\nSeverity: Critical (CVSS: 8.1)
\nAttack Vector: Network
\nPrivileges Required: None
\nUser Interaction: None
\nImpact: System compromise or significant data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n

Affected Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n

Incus system container manager<\/a> | 6.12, 6.13
\nIncus virtual machine<\/a> manager | 6.12, 6.13<\/p>\n

How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vulnerability arises from a flaw in Incus’s generation of nftables rules when using an ACL<\/a> on a device connected to a bridge. These rules partially bypass security<\/a> options like `security.mac_filtering`, `security.ipv4_filtering`, and `security.ipv6_filtering`. This bypass can lead<\/a> to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) spoofing on the bridge. The attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability to fully spoof another VM\/container on the same bridge, leading to unauthorized access<\/a> or data theft.<\/p>\n

Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suppose an attacker has gained access to the network<\/a> and can send arbitrary packets. Given the vulnerable Incus versions<\/a> 6.12 or 6.13, they could send a specifically crafted ARP packet like this:<\/p>\n

arp -s [target IP] [attacker MAC] -i [bridge interface]<\/code><\/pre>\n
This command sends an ARP reply to the target, falsely associating the attacker’s MAC address with the target IP. Once this spoofing is accepted by the target, all traffic meant for the target IP could end up at the attacker’s machine, leading to potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n
Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is advised to apply the vendor patch mentioned in commit 254dfd2483ab8de39b47c2258b7f1cf0759231c8. As an alternative or temporary mitigation, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overview The cyber world is under a significant threat from a recently disclosed vulnerability CVE-2025-52890. This vulnerability resides in the Incus system container and virtual machine manager, specifically affecting versions 6.12 and 6.13. The flaw lies in the generation of nftables rules that inadvertently bypass integral security options, leading to potential ARP spoofing and VM\/container […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-56586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t