CVE-2023-32684

In Lima, a malicious disk image could read a single file on the host filesystem as a qcow2/vmdk backing file

LOW
2.5
CVSS Score
Published: May 30, 2023 at 05:19 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:59 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsLimaLima

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Severity
LOW2.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Lima launches Linux virtual machines, typically on macOS, for running containerd. Prior to version 0.16.0, a virtual machine instance with a malicious disk image could read a single file on the host filesystem, even when no filesystem is mounted from the host. The official templates of Lima and the well-known third party products (Colima, Rancher Desktop, and Finch) are unlikely to be affected by this issue. To exploit this issue, the attacker has to embed the target file path (an absolute or a relative path from the instance directory) in a malicious disk image, as the qcow2 (or vmdk) backing file path string. As Lima refuses to run as the root, it is practically impossible for the attacker to read the entire host disk via `/dev/rdiskN`. Also, practically, the attacker cannot read at least the first 512 bytes (MBR) of the target file. The issue has been patched in Lima in version 0.16.0 by prohibiting using a backing file path in the VM base image.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 0.16.0
Affected range stops below 0.16.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 0.16.0
Affected range stops below 0.16.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-552

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