CVE-2026-52727 lxc-ci: Pacman keyring stored in archlinux image with a private key
Attackers can execute arbitrary code as root by signing malicious packages with a hardcoded private key found in LXC Arch Linux images.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-52727?
CVE-2026-52727 is a high-severity vulnerability in lxc-ci, published on 17 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
lxc-ci contains continuous integration and image-build scripts for LXC. Prior to the 2026-05-28 Arch Linux image publication, images built from images/archlinux.yaml retain the same pacman local-signing private key in /etc/pacman.d/gnupg and redistribute it to every container or virtual machine created from that image. An attacker who controls an HTTP package mirror or can intercept mirror traffic can use the shared pacman signing private key to sign modified packages that affected clients accept as trusted. Installing those packages permits arbitrary code execution as root on the client system. This issue is fixed in Arch Linux images published on or after 2026-05-28.
Weakness: CWE-321
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-52727?
How do I fix CVE-2026-52727?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-52727 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-52727 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-52727, GHSA-4h59-f67g-5qxp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-52727.