Bug 2515940 (CVE-2026-19816)

Summary: CVE-2026-19816 packagekit: PackageKit: PackageKit dnf5 ignores SIMULATE on RepoRemove
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, security-response-team, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in PackageKit. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores the SIMULATE transaction flag and executes a real package removal, allowing an unprivileged local user to uninstall packages without polkit authorization.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-14 03:25:54 UTC 
PackageKit skips the polkit check for transactions carrying SIMULATE (dry-run). The
dnf5 backend's REPO_REMOVE handler nevertheless always runs the real transaction,
because the guard is written as (role == REPO_REMOVE || !SIMULATE) — always true for
that role. An unprivileged client can therefore perform a genuine uninstall while
claiming to simulate.