CVE-2026-97027 Flatpak: flatpak: denial of service via unsanitized keys in exported desktop entry / d-bus service files
A malicious Flatpak application can cause denial of service or bypass sandbox restrictions by injecting unsanitized keys into exported desktop and D-Bus service files.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-97027?
CVE-2026-97027 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 28 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Flatpak passes through arbitrary vendor-extension keys unmodified when exporting an application's Desktop Entry (.desktop) and D-Bus Service (.service) files, instead of validating against an allowlist. A malicious Flatpak app can use this to cause denial of service (e.g. forced application restart loops) or to influence host D-Bus/systemd activation behavior beyond what the sandbox is intended to permit.
Weakness: CWE-20
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97027?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97027?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-97027 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97027 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97027, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97027.