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NVD / CVE Program· CNA redhat

CVE-2026-96281: Flatpak: flatpak: unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 24/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.12% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Physical access to the device is required. A low-privileged account is enough. A user must open a link or visit a page. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: flatpak (Debian:13) 1.16.6-1~deb13u2; flatpak (Debian:14) 1.18.1-1; flatpak (SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS) 1.4.2-3.15.1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to flatpak (Debian:13) 1.16.6-1~deb13u2; flatpak (Debian:14) 1.18.1-1; flatpak (SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS) 1.4.2-3.15.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

MediumCVSS 6.2 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Sep 27, 2026
Updated
Sep 30, 2026
EPSS
0.1% · 2th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

24

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
24 / 40 · 6.2 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.1%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · redhat
6.2
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (redhat). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

    • all versionsaffected

  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

    • all versionsaffected

  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

    • all versionsaffected

  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

    • all versionsaffected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12flatpakfrom 0—
Debian:13flatpakbefore 1.16.6-1~deb13u21.16.6-1~deb13u2
Debian:14flatpakbefore 1.18.1-11.18.1-1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSSflatpakbefore 1.4.2-3.15.11.4.2-3.15.1

Same product

red hat: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2025-10230Samba: command injection in wins server hook script
    52Plan
  • CVE-2026-4631Cockpit: cockpit: unauthenticated remote code execution due to ssh command-line argument injection
    44Plan
  • CVE-2026-76578Ipa: freeipa: freeipa: unauthenticated ldap client can obtain administrator credentials via the self-managed-token aci
    39Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-96279Sep 27, 2026 · Flatpak: flatpak: path traversal issue in oci archive extraction via hardlinks
    26Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-96280Sep 27, 2026 · Flatpak: flatpak: buffer overflow in oci delta stream path names on 32-bit systems
    30Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-96282Sep 27, 2026 · Flatpak: flatpak: extension metadata path traversal file existence oracle
    12Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:flatpak1.16.6-1~deb13u2 · Debian:13Package registry (OSV)
suse:flatpak1.4.2-3.15.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSSPackage registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

  • CVE-2026-7269347 days apartKbd: local privilege escalation in openvt via incorrect process owner verification allowing passwordless root login
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2025-5962370 days apartRhel-lightspeed: improper access control in lightspeed history management allows local privilege manipulation
    30Monitor
  • CVE-2026-936769 days apartXdg-dbus-proxy: xdg-dbus-proxy: filtering for broadcast messages bypasses path/interface/member checks
    12Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Physical access to the device is required.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Physical
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-284 · Improper Access Control

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. SSVC exploitation— → none
  2. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records