CVE-2026-96275: flatpak Path Traversal

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-96275 is a high (CVSS 8.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in flatpak. EPSS estimates a 0.40% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 32.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 23-09-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 12-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A malicious or compromised Flatpak repository can write attacker-controlled content to arbitrary locations on the host filesystem via extract_extra_data(). On system installs, the write happens as root. Two issues combine: `files/extra` is resolved via path operations that follow symlinks, and blob names from `xa.extra-data-sources` are not sanitized against `..` traversal.

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.