CVE-2026-49237
HIGHDescription
An issue was discovered in Canonical Multipass for macOS before version 1.16.3 due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2025-5199. While the patch in version 1.16.0 updated the ownership of the multipassd daemon binary to root:wheel, five co-located binaries (multipass, qemu-img, qemu-system-aarch64, qemu-system-x86_64, and sshfs_server) in /Library/Application Support/com.canonical.multipass/bin/ retain ownership by the installing user and remain writable. Because the root LaunchDaemon (com.canonical.multipassd.plist) configures a PATH environment variable that prioritizes this user-writable directory and invokes these auxiliary binaries by their bare names, a local attacker can replace an auxiliary binary (such as qemu-img) with a malicious wrapper. When the root daemon subsequently triggers the binary during routine execution (e.g., via multipass launch), the malicious code executes with root privileges, leading to local privilege escalation.
How to fix
TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 4% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-276 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2013-0632 | Critical | 9.8 | 94% | KEV | - |
| CVE-2017-11610 | High | 8.8 | 87% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2023-29919 | Critical | 9.1 | 60% | - | - |
| CVE-2019-17124 | Critical | 9.8 | 23% | - | - |
| CVE-2020-12608 | High | 7.8 | 22% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-3437 | Critical | 9.8 | 16% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2026-49237?
Upgrade Multipass to 1.16.3 or later.
Is CVE-2026-49237 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2026-49237 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 0.14% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 4% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2026-49237?
CVE-2026-49237 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2026-49237 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for Multipass (Windows application). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-06-01.