CVE-2026-96279 Flatpak: flatpak: path traversal issue in oci archive extraction via hardlinks
A malicious OCI registry can use hardlinks to expose arbitrary host files, including sensitive system files, during Flatpak installation or updates.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-96279?
CVE-2026-96279 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 27 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
A malicious OCI registry can hardlink arbitrary host files into the extraction directory when a user installs or updates a Flatpak application from an OCI remote, allowing disclosure of arbitrary host file contents. For system-wide installs running as root, this includes sensitive files such as /etc/shadow.
Weakness: CWE-59
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-96279?
How do I fix CVE-2026-96279?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-96279 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-96279 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-96279, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-96279.