CVE-2026-90616 (GCVE-0-2026-90616)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-12 20:00 – Updated: 2026-09-14 18:22
VLAI
Summary
In Flatpak before 1.18.1, a malicious sandboxed app can obtain arbitrary read and write access to files on the host, which can be escalated to arbitrary code execution on the host, a different vulnerability than CVE-2026-76925. Flatpak creates a few app data directories (e.g., /var/cache, /var/data, /var/config, and /var/tmp) in every sandbox on every app launch where, in some cases, components of the path are attacker-controlled. Missing symlink protection can redirect the directories. Some of these directories are bind-mounted by Flatpak by passing the path (e.g., /home/user/.var/app/APP_ID/cache/tmp), which contains attacker-controlled directories (tmp) to bwrap --bind SRC DST. bwrap passes the path on to the kernel, which then follows symlinks. A malicious symlink can point to arbitrary locations on the host and it will become mounted inside the sandbox.
Severity
7.4 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC
Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-09-14 18:22 UTC
CWE
  • CWE-61 - UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following
Assigner
mitre CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard E 29/100 over 2159 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Flatpak Flatpak Affected: 0 , < 1.18.1 (semver)
    cpe:2.3:a:flatpak:flatpak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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