CVE-2026-96281

MEDIUMPre-NVD 6.26.2—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This medium-severity CVE scores 6.2 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.2% (6th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, secondary
Trending — 4 sources updated this week
6.2EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.2%CVSS: 6.2Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

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.

CVSS v3
6.2
EG Score
6.2MEDIUMmedium confidence
EG Risk
28
EG Risk 28/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity62% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
EPSS PROB
0.2%
EPSS %ILE
6th
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

September 27, 2026

Last Modified

September 30, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Sep 27, 2026
Patch available. Sources: redhat, github.
github Patch Available

CVE-2026-96281: Unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes · Advisory · flatpak/flatpak · GitHub

Affected: version 1.18.1 by commits:

https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-q4gr-vc25-57m5
redhat

2539421 – (CVE-2026-96281) CVE-2026-96281 flatpak: flatpak: Unprivileged active user can bypass anti-downgrade checks for system apps/runtimes

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539421
redhat Patch Available

CVE-2026-96281 - Red Hat Customer Portal

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or OpenShift Container Platform 4, is affected by this vulnerability and a fix may be released to a

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96281

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 18× in last 7d / 18× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-10-03 20:56 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-03 14:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-10-02 21:10 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-02 17:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-10-01 21:20 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-01 19:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-30 21:30 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-09-30 20:27 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-09-30 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-29 22:12 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-28 22:14 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-27 22:28 UTCEG score recompute▲ 6.20
  15. 2026-09-27 22:27 UTCNVD updateCVSS v3 → 6.2 · severity → MEDIUM
  16. 2026-09-27 21:25 UTCNVD update
  17. 2026-09-27 21:05 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-09-27 21:05 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-96281?
CVE-2026-96281 is a medium vulnerability published on September 27, 2026. 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…
When was CVE-2026-96281 disclosed?
CVE-2026-96281 was first published on September 27, 2026, with the most recent update on September 30, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-96281 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-96281 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (6th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-96281?
CVE-2026-96281 has a CVSS base score of 6.2 (a secondary CVSS source that NVD displays; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-96281?
A fix for CVE-2026-96281 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

Dependency Blast Radius

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