---
id: CVE-2026-96281
title: >-
  On a multi-user system, a user with an active local login session could
  downgrade a system-wide Flatpak app to an older version by removing the app's
  remote ref via the unprivileged system-helper RemoveLocalRef method, causing
  the anti-d…
summary: >-
  On a multi-user system, a user with an active local login session could
  downgrade a system-wide Flatpak app to an older version by removing the app's
  remote ref via the unprivileged system-helper RemoveLocalRef method, causing
  the anti-d…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.2
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-284
vendor: Red Hat
product: flatpak
affected:
  - flatpak (all versions)
  - flatpak (all versions)
  - flatpak (all versions)
  - flatpak (all versions)
published: '2026-09-27'
updated: '2026-09-27'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-27T21:17:04.330'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96281'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96281'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539421'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-q4gr-vc25-57m5'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
cvssSource: cna
ingestedAt: '2026-09-27T21:58:39.827Z'
---

## Overview

On a multi-user system, a user with an active local login session could downgrade a system-wide Flatpak app to an older version by removing the app's remote ref via the unprivileged system-helper RemoveLocalRef method, causing the anti-downgrade check to fail to find a reference date. A malicious local user could use this to expose other users of the same system to an app version with unfixed vulnerabilities.

## Remediation

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