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

Medium · CVSS 6.2CVE-2026-96281

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

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-96281 records a Medium severity (CVSS 6.2) vulnerability in Flatpak: flatpak: unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Red Hat/flatpak (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Sep 27, 2026Updated Sep 27, 2026Source checked Sep 27, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 27, 2026Material review Sep 27, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Medium · CVSS 6.2
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 1 mapped package or product
Fix availability: Not reported

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 6.2. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps Red Hat/flatpak (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
Red Hat/flatpakgeneric	*	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Red Hat/flatpak.
Review the reported fix. Source-reported workaround: Ensure that Flatpak apps installed system-wide are fully updated before running them.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Sep 27, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 27, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 27, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source 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.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.