---
id: CVE-2026-96279
title: >-
  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
summary: >-
  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
  insta…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-59
vendor: Red Hat
product: flatpak
affected:
  - flatpak (all versions)
  - flatpak
  - flatpak
  - flatpak
published: '2026-09-27'
updated: '2026-09-29'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-29T21:29:07.663'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96279'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96279'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539417'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-9rww-v4mm-x4jg'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-96279.json
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96279'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96279'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00425
epssPercentile: 0.36946
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-28T13:54:49.867657Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-27T19:57:22.599Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-09-27 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-96279.json)