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CVE-2026-96808

In Flatpak before 1.18.1, the revokefs writer, used by the flatpak-system-helper to receive repository data from unprivileged callers, valid

Published
Last modified
published
Not listed in CISA KEV
Fix
Fixed in 1.18.1
None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
  • Exploitation: none
  • Automatable: no
  • Technical impact: total

Summary

In Flatpak before 1.18.1, the revokefs writer, used by the flatpak-system-helper to receive repository data from unprivileged callers, validated file paths by rejecting literal .. components but did not prevent symlink traversal. A malicious local user in an active local session could obtain two revokefs sessions via the system helper, create a symlink in one session pointing into the other session's directory, and retain a file descriptor through that symlink. This allowed the attacker to modify files belonging to a different revokefs session after they had been validated and imported by the system helper. In particular, an attacker could use this to tamper with ostree commit objects in the system repository after they passed signature verification, enabling root-controlled file writes to attacker-chosen paths and local root privilege escalation.

Timeline

  1. CVE published
  2. CISA SSVC assessment

    Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

  3. Record last updated

Affected versions

  • Flatpak Flatpak

    fixed in 1.18.1

References 1

GitHub · flatpak/flatpak