Flatpak: flatpak: unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes
Published Sep 27, 2026
6.2
MEDIUMCVSS 3.1
EPSS 0.17%
Description
On a multi-user system, a user with an active local login session could downgrade a system-wide Flatpak app to an older version by removing the app's remote ref via the unprivileged system-helper RemoveLocalRef method, causing the anti-downgrade check to fail to find a reference date. A malicious local user could use this to expose other users of the same system to an app version with unfixed vulnerabilities.
Affected products
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | affected |
| |||
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | affected |
| |||
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | affected |
| |||
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | affected |
|
No data.
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Vendor solution
Ensure that Flatpak apps installed system-wide are fully updated before running them.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v2.0 score for this CVE.
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
CISA SSVC (Vulnrichment)
Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization from CISA ADP.
Exploitation
NoneAutomatable
NoTechnical Impact
TotalDecision
n/aAssessed Sep 30, 2026 · SSVC 2.0.3
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
Not enough EPSS history yet for a chart. At least two recorded scores are needed.
Percentile over time
Not enough EPSS history yet for a chart. At least two recorded scores are needed.
References (3)
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96281 vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539421 issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-q4gr-vc25-57m5
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96281 | vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539421 | issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT | |
| https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-q4gr-vc25-57m5 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.