Incus nil-pointer dereference in custom volume import allows denial of service

Summary

Incus is a system container and virtual machine manager. In versions before 7.0.0, missing validation logic in the storage volume import logic allows an authenticated user with access to the storage volume feature to cause the Incus daemon to crash. The custom volume backup import subsystem contains a nil-pointer dereference vulnerability during import operations. In the snapshot import loop, the daemon iterates over entries from `srcBackup.Config.VolumeSnapshots` and assumes that each slice element is initialized, then dereferences fields such as `Name`, `Config`, `Description`, `CreatedAt`, and `ExpiresAt` without first validating the element itself. Because the yaml unmarshaler accepts explicit null array elements from an attacker-controlled index.yaml and converts them into nil pointers inside the slice, an attacker can supply a backup archive containing a null entry in the volume_snapshots array. This causes a nil-pointer dereference during custom volume import and terminates the daemon, resulting in denial of service on the affected node. Repeated use of this issue can be used to keep Incus offline, causing a denial of service. This issue is fixed in version 7.0.0.

Timeline

1. May 6, 2026, 8:36 PM UTCCVE published
2. May 7, 2026, 1:21 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

3. May 7, 2026, 1:28 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• lxc incus

  fixed in 7.0.0

• github.com/lxc/incus/v6/cmd/incusdGo

  fixed in 7.0.0

• github.com/lxc/incusGo

  All versions

• github.com/lxc/incus/v6Go

  All versions

• github.com/lxc/incus/v7Go

  fixed in 7.0.0

References 1