Flatpak repo ROOT write via unsanitized extra-data-sources
CVE-2026-96275 Published on September 23, 2026
Flatpak: flatpak: arbitrary write access as root via extra-data extraction
A malicious or compromised Flatpak repository can write attacker-controlled content to arbitrary locations on the host filesystem via extract_extra_data(). On system installs, the write happens as root. Two issues combine: `files/extra` is resolved via path operations that follow symlinks, and blob names from `xa.extra-data-sources` are not sanitized against `..` traversal.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-96275 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public.
Weakness Type
What is a Directory traversal Vulnerability?
The software uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the software does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
CVE-2026-96275 has been classified to as a Directory traversal vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-96275
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)? stack.watch will email you.
