Medium severity · published Sep 27, 2026
CVE-2026-96281
Flatpak: flatpak: unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes
6.2
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Physical
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 2% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96281
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96281
vdb-entry
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96281
issue-tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539421
github.com
https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-q4gr-vc25-57m5
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