CVE-2023-28101 Flatpak metadata with ANSI control codes can cause misleading terminal output

What is CVE-2023-28101?

CVE-2023-28101 is a medium-severity vulnerability in flatpak, published on 16 Mar 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Flatpak is a system for building, distributing, and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux. In versions prior to 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, and 1.15.4, if an attacker publishes a Flatpak app with elevated permissions, they can hide those permissions from users of the `flatpak(1)` command-line interface by setting other permissions to crafted values that contain non-printable control characters such as `ESC`. A fix is available in versions 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, and 1.15.4. As a workaround, use a GUI like GNOME Software rather than the command-line interface, or only install apps whose maintainers you trust.

Weakness: CWE-116

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28101?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Flatpak Flatpak.

How do I fix CVE-2023-28101?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2023-28101 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28101 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in flatpak

• CVE-2023-28100 TIOCLINUX can send commands outside sandbox if running on a virtual console Critical 10.0
• CVE-2026-34078 Flatpak has a complete sandbox escape leading to host file access and code execution in the host context Critical 9.3
• CVE-2019-10063 Security feature bypass in n/a Critical 9.0
• CVE-2018-6560 Security feature bypass in n/a High 8.8
• CVE-2026-34079 Flatpak affected by arbitrary file deletion on the host filesystem High 8.7

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as CLSA-2025-1740740956, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-28101, GHSA-h43h-fwqx-mpp8, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-28101.