What is CVE-2026-96281?
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.
The record classifies CVE-2026-96281 under weakness class CWE-284. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw requires physical access to the device, needs low-privilege credentials, needs a user to take an action first, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability. 4 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 8 days ago.
Severity and exploitation probability
- CVSS v3.1 base score
- 6.2 — MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CISA KEV
- Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
- Threadlinqs priority
- 3.1/10 — a Threadlinqs composite of the CVSS base score, the EPSS percentile and public exploit availability
- Published
- 2026-09-27
Is CVE-2026-96281 being exploited?
It currently carries a trending score of 30 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.
Affected products and versions
- Red Hat: Enterprise Linux 10, Enterprise Linux 7, Enterprise Linux 8, Enterprise Linux 9
How to fix CVE-2026-96281
No vendor patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-96281 in the tracked sources. Follow the references below for a fix, and treat the products listed above as exposed until the vendor states otherwise.
Threat activity tracking CVE-2026-96281
No threat campaign in the Threadlinqs corpus currently references CVE-2026-96281, in its CVE list or as an indicator. The linkage is recomputed from the live corpus on every daily ingest, so this section fills in as soon as a tracked campaign cites the identifier.
Sources
Enriched from CVE.org. Last verified by Threadlinqs on .