---
id: CVE-2026-19816
title: A flaw was found in PackageKit
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in PackageKit. PackageKit skips the polkit authorization
  check for transactions carrying the SIMULATE (dry-run) flag. In the dnf5
  backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores that contract and always executes the
  real transac…
severity: high
cvss: 7.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-863
vendor: Fedora
product: PackageKit
affected:
  - PackageKit >= 1.3.4 < 1.4.0
  - PackageKit >= 1.3.4 < 1.4.0
  - PackageKit
  - PackageKit
  - PackageKit
  - PackageKit
  - compat-PackageKit08
  - PackageKit
published: '2026-09-14'
updated: '2026-09-18'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-18T19:34:36.657'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-19816'
references:
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2515940'
    label: patrick@puiterwijk.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/commit/33be77b3ecd3b566ca117358dc18c58c964e627b
    label: patrick@puiterwijk.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-g5gf-h68q-gxc8
    label: patrick@puiterwijk.org
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-19816.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-19816'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-19816'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-19816'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00105
epssPercentile: 0.00992
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-15T17:38:41.601204Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-14T20:14:21.146Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in PackageKit. PackageKit skips the polkit authorization check for transactions carrying the SIMULATE (dry-run) flag. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores that contract and always executes the real transaction because its guard is written as (role == REPO_REMOVE || !SIMULATE), which is always true for RepoRemove. An unprivileged local user can therefore perform a genuine package uninstall while claiming to simulate. This vulnerability only affects systems using PackageKit with the dnf5 backend.

## Remediation

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

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · updated 2026-09-14 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-19816.json)