Bug 2542625 (CVE-2026-97024)

Summary:	CVE-2026-97024 flatpak: flatpak: Arbitrary write in root context via path traversal in deploy directory files/etc
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	high	Docs Contact:
Priority:	high
Version:	unspecified	CC:	rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
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Doc Text:	A path traversal vulnerability in Flatpak's handling of the files/etc directory during app deployment allows a malicious Flatpak app to cause certain host system files (such as passwd, group, machine-id, or resolv.conf) to be emptied or replaced with a symlink when the app is installed or upgraded. In system-wide installations, the write is performed as root.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
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Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-28 19:51:44 UTC

GHSA-8xgq-v545-vgvf (https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-8xgq-v545-vgvf)

Description: A path traversal vulnerability during app installation could be used by an attacker to overwrite system files. A malicious Flatpak app could arrange for files named "passwd", "group", or "machine-id" on the host system (e.g. /etc/passwd) to be emptied when the app is upgraded, resulting in data loss and loss of access to the system. When installing Flatpak apps system-wide, the file write is done by root. It is not believed to be possible to replace these files with attacker-chosen content. Similarly, a malicious app could arrange for files named "resolv.conf" to be replaced by a symbolic link to /run/host/monitor/resolv.conf, which is unlikely to exist on the host system.

Mitigation: No known mitigation other than updating. Patched in 1.18.4 by commits 01cd7c4b ("dir: Add fd-relative helpers for accessing deploy directories") and cc3ab6ab ("dir: Use fd-relative operations for files/etc during runtime deploy"). The changes overlap with those for GHSA-5p67-xh8x-rq54 (CVE-2026-97023).