CVE-2026-6970

Local privilege escalation via primary GID reset

Published Apr 27, 2026 · Updated Apr 27, 2026

Incorrect group assignment in Canonical authd before 0.6.4 allows local users to gain privileges through a primary GID reset. The UpdateUser path resets an existing user's private-group GID to the UID during a login-triggered identity-record update instead of preserving the stored custom GID. Exploitation requires UID and GID values to differ and identity-provider data to change; the mismatch can expose newly created files to unintended local groups or disrupt access.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Incorrect group assignment in Canonical authd before 0.6.4 allows local users to gain privileges through a primary GID reset. The UpdateUser path resets an existing user's private-group GID to the UID during a login-triggered identity-record update instead of preserving the stored custom GID. Exploitation requires UID and GID values to differ and identity-provider data to change; the mismatch can expose newly created files to unintended local groups or disrupt access.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-6970
Published
Apr 27, 2026
Updated
Apr 27, 2026
Vendor
Canonical
Product
authd
Classifications
CWE-842, CAPEC-233, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Apr 27, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0.6.0 <0.6.4
  2. Affected versionversion=0.6.1 <0.6.1ubuntu0.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Canonical · authdversion=0.6.0 <0.6.4; version=0.6.1 <0.6.1ubuntu0.1

Published CVSS scores

7.3CanonicalCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-842Placement of User into Incorrect Group
CAPEC-233Privilege Escalation
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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