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.
CVE-2026-12080
HIGHPre-NVD 7.37.3—Trending — 4 sources updated this week
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence
Score 7.3 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-07-20. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.3; sources differ by 0.0.
Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
7.3
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 7.3Exploit: NoneExposed: 0
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 7.3
- EG Score
- 7.3(high)
- EG Risk
- 33(Track)EG Risk 33/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity73% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability0% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS
- 7.9%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 20, 2026
Last Modified
July 21, 2026
Advisory Details (3)
Auto-updated Jul 20, 2026🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: redhat.
generic🟡 PoC Available
Local privilege escalation in qemu-guest-agent (guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys, symlink-following chown) (#3929) · Issues · QEMU / QEMU · GitLab
https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/work_items/3929redhat
2499603 – (CVE-2026-12080) CVE-2026-12080 qemu-kvm: qemu-guest-agent: Local privilege escalation via symlink attack in guest-ssh-add-authorized-keys
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2499603Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-12080(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 8× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-23 03:05 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 23:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 23:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 14:55 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-20 13:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-20 13:02 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-12080?
CVE-2026-12080 is a high vulnerability published on July 20, 2026. 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…
When was CVE-2026-12080 disclosed?
CVE-2026-12080 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 20, 2026, with the most recent update on July 21, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-12080 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-12080 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 7.9% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-12080?
CVE-2026-12080 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-12080?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-12080, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-12080
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-12080?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.