Releases

Lima v2.1.4 is a routine patch release with a handful of cherry-picked bug fixes, a nerdctl bump, and small CLI/template improvements. No breaking changes, security fixes, or deprecations are included.

Lima v2.1.3 is a security-focused patch release fixing two CVEs: a privilege escalation in QEMU VMs and multiple containerd CVEs bundled via nerdctl v2.3.3. Upgrade promptly.

• securityPatch QEMU privilege escalation (CVE-2026-53657) immediately

  Any unprivileged user inside a QEMU-backed Lima VM could gain root inside that VM by abusing the guest agent socket. If you share Lima VMs among multiple users or run untrusted workloads, this is high priority. Upgrade to v2.1.3 and restart affected VMs.

• securitycontainerd CVE batch via nerdctl v2.3.3 — upgrade required

  Five CVEs in containerd are fixed in the bundled nerdctl v2.3.3 (containerd v2.3.2). If your Lima instances run container workloads, the old containerd is exposed. Upgrade Lima and recreate or restart VMs to pick up the new nerdctl binary.

• breakingcontainerd.user defaults changed for non-Linux guests

  Lima no longer sets containerd.user=true by default on non-Linux guests (macOS, Windows). If you relied on rootless containerd on those platforms without explicitly setting this, validate your VM config after upgrading and set containerd.user=true explicitly if needed.

Lima v2.1.2 is a broad maintenance release fixing hostagent resource leaks, zombie processes, and gRPC connection leaks — plus template updates for Kubernetes 1.36, Ubuntu 26.04, and Fedora 44.

• breakingAlpine template split — update your instance configs

  The generic `template:alpine` has been split into `template:alpine-3.21`, `template:alpine-3.22`, and `template:alpine-3.23`. If you reference `template:alpine` in scripts, CI, or configs, those references will break. Audit and update them to a specific versioned template before upgrading.

• breaking_LIMA_QEMU_UEFI_IN_BIOS is deprecated — stop using it

  If you have the `_LIMA_QEMU_UEFI_IN_BIOS` environment variable set in any scripts or dotfiles, remove it now. The flag is deprecated in this release and will likely be removed in a future version. Check wrapper scripts and CI pipelines that invoke limactl with QEMU.

• enhancementHostagent resource leak fixes — worth upgrading if you run long-lived instances

  Four separate hostagent fixes address GuestAgentClient leaks, inotify watcher accumulation, and gRPC stream mishandling on reconnect. If you've seen memory creep or stale connections in long-running Lima instances, this release directly addresses those issues. Upgrade proactively rather than waiting.

Lima v2.1.1 is a focused patch release adding Windows binary artifacts and fixing a handful of edge-case bugs, with an important bundled nerdctl security update.

• securityUpdate nerdctl distribution for BuildKit and CNI security fixes

  The bundled nerdctl was bumped from v2.2.1 to v2.2.2, which updates BuildKit to 0.28.1 and CNI plugins to 1.9.1. Both upstream releases include security patches. If you use Lima's nerdctl template for container workloads, upgrade to v2.1.1 promptly and check the BuildKit and CNI plugin release notes to assess CVE impact for your environment.

• enhancementWindows users can now consume official Lima binaries

  Lima v2.1.1 ships pre-built Windows artifacts for the first time. If your team has Windows developers using Lima (e.g., via WSL2), point them at the official release binaries rather than maintaining custom builds. This simplifies onboarding and keeps everyone on a verified, reproducible build.

• enhancementFix UID range issues for enterprise/LDAP-managed macOS users

  macOS guests now accept UIDs outside the conventional range. If any users in your org run Lima on corporate-managed Macs with directory-assigned UIDs (common with LDAP or Active Directory integration), this fixes silent failures that were hard to diagnose. No config change needed — just upgrade.

Lima v2.1.0 adds experimental macOS and FreeBSD guest support, renames the guest home directory path, and consolidates disk files — a release with real migration considerations alongside useful new features.

• breakingDisk file consolidation means no downgrade path

  Once an instance runs under Lima v2.1, its disk format is incompatible with v2.0 and v1.x. Snapshot or back up critical VM instances before upgrading. If you manage shared Lima environments or CI pipelines that pin Lima versions, ensure all consumers upgrade together — you can't roll back individual instances.

• breakingHardcoded paths to `/home/${USER}.linux` will break

  The guest home directory is now `/home/${USER}.guest`. A symlink covers the old path, so most things will keep working. However, any scripts, dotfiles, or tooling that hardcodes the `.linux` suffix — particularly in non-symlink-aware contexts like bind mounts or container volume paths — should be audited and updated.

• enhancementUse `limactl shell --sync` for AI agent workflows

  If you're running AI coding agents (e.g., Claude Code, Aider) inside Lima shells, `--sync` prevents the agent from accidentally modifying host files by syncing the working directory into the guest context. Adopt this flag in any automation or agent harness that launches `limactl shell` — it's a low-friction safety net.

• enhancementk3s template now supports multi-node clusters

  The built-in `k3s` template can now spin up multi-node clusters, which makes local Kubernetes testing significantly more realistic. If you've been working around this limitation with custom configs or alternative tools like Rancher Desktop, it's worth re-evaluating the native template.