Detect CVE-2026-48751: Incus Restricted Project Bypass Leading to Arbitrary Command Execution in Sumo Logic CSE
Detects exploitation of CVE-2026-48751, a critical missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) in Incus (github.com/lxc/incus/v7/cmd/incusd) versions prior to 7.2.0. An attacker with access to a restricted Incus project can bypass project restrictions to execute arbitrary commands on the host system, achieving container escape with a CVSS score of 9.9. A public proof-of-concept is available.
MITRE ATT&CK
Sumo Detection Query
_sourceCategory=linux/audit OR _sourceCategory=endpoint/process
| where (parent_process matches /incusd/ OR parent_process matches /^incus$/)
| where (
process matches /^(sh|bash|zsh|python3?|perl|ruby)$/
OR command matches /nsenter|unshare|chroot|pivot_root/
)
| eval risk = if(command matches /nsenter|unshare|chroot|pivot_root/, "CRITICAL",
if(process matches /^(sh|bash|zsh|python3?|perl|ruby)$/, "HIGH", "MEDIUM"))
| where risk in ("CRITICAL", "HIGH")
| fields _messageTime, _sourceHost, user, process, parent_process, command, risk
| sort by _messageTime desc
| count by _sourceHost, user, process, parent_process, riskSumo Logic query detecting incusd spawning shells or namespace manipulation tools, indicating potential exploitation of CVE-2026-48751 restricted project bypass.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate container management operations by authorized Incus administrators
- Automated provisioning systems using incus exec as part of their workflow
- Developers testing container configurations in non-production environments
- Security assessments and red team exercises in authorized lab environments
Other platforms for CVE-2026-48751
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1Incus Restricted Project Shell Escape via Exec API
Expected signal: Process audit logs showing incusd spawning /bin/sh or nsenter with parent PID of incusd; auditd EXECVE records for nsenter or chroot with ppid matching incusd; /proc/<pid>/ns/pid symlink pointing to host PID namespace
- Test 2Verify Incus Vulnerable Version Present
Expected signal: Process execution events for incusd --version and incus project list; API calls to /1.0/projects and /1.0/instances visible in incusd access logs
- Test 3Container Escape via Host Namespace Entry Post-Bypass
Expected signal: Auditd SYSCALL records for nsenter (execve), unshare, clone syscalls; /proc/<pid>/ns/pid and /proc/<pid>/ns/mnt symlinks showing target namespace 1 (host init); process tree showing sh/bash with host-level PID namespace confirmed by NSpid field in /proc/self/status
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