Error message while trying to install emacs

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This isn't an emacs question, but it about whatever "snap" package management "confinement" means. I don't know snap, but this really just means "this is arbitrarily complex software that can do anything when run with appropriate privileges". No, in the normal course of affairs emacs will not damage your OS. (and it certainly won't escape the virtual machine and damage your /host/ OS.)

I assume you're using Ubuntu. In Ubuntu the installation of some packages gets redirected to their semi-proprietary package manager, Snap. Snap by default sandboxes programs, however, some programs (like IDEs) can't be sandboxed for various reasons. You can install Emacs with `sudo snap install emacs --classic`, which gets rid of the sandboxing. However, I don't know if the Emacs in the Snap store is official or not. There's some way of removing this rerouting behaviour but it's a little complex, so I advise you look up a guide. You can also switch to another distro (like Mint), which doesn't have this problem in the first place.