CVE-2026-41651 (GCVE-0-2026-41651)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-04-22 13:11 – Updated: 2026-04-22 18:36
VLAI?
Title
PackageKit vulnerable to TOCTOU Race on Transaction Flags leads to arbitrary package installation as root
Summary
PackageKit is a a D-Bus abstraction layer that allows the user to manage packages in a secure way using a cross-distro, cross-architecture API. PackageKit between and including versions 1.0.2 and 1.3.4 is vulnerable to a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition on transaction flags that allows unprivileged users to install packages as root and thus leads to a local privilege escalation. This is patched in version 1.3.5. A local unprivileged user can install arbitrary RPM packages as root, including executing RPM scriptlets, without authentication. The vulnerability is a TOCTOU race condition on `transaction->cached_transaction_flags` combined with a silent state-machine guard that discards illegal backward transitions while leaving corrupted flags in place. Three bugs exist in `src/pk-transaction.c`: 1. Unconditional flag overwrite (line 4036): `InstallFiles()` writes caller-supplied flags to `transaction->cached_transaction_flags` without checking whether the transaction has already been authorized/started. A second call blindly overwrites the flags even while the transaction is RUNNING. 2. Silent state-transition rejection (lines 873–882): `pk_transaction_set_state()` silently discards backward state transitions (e.g. `RUNNING` → `WAITING_FOR_AUTH`) but the flag overwrite at step 1 already happened. The transaction continues running with corrupted flags. 3. Late flag read at execution time (lines 2273–2277): The scheduler's idle callback reads cached_transaction_flags at dispatch time, not at authorization time. If flags were overwritten between authorization and execution, the backend sees the attacker's flags.
Severity ?
8.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE
  • CWE-367 - Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
PackageKit PackageKit Affected: >= 1.0.2, <= 1.3.4
Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-04-22T17:21:17.120Z",
          "orgId": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
          "shortName": "CVE"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CVE Program Container"
      },
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-41651",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "poc"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-04-22T18:35:57.253778Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-04-22T18:36:23.661Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "tags": [
              "exploit"
            ],
            "url": "https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "PackageKit",
          "vendor": "PackageKit",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 1.0.2, \u003c= 1.3.4"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "PackageKit is a a D-Bus abstraction layer that allows the user to manage packages in a secure way using a cross-distro, cross-architecture API. PackageKit between and including versions 1.0.2 and 1.3.4 is vulnerable to a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition on transaction flags that allows unprivileged users to install packages as root and thus leads to a local privilege escalation. This is patched in version 1.3.5.\n\nA local unprivileged user can install arbitrary RPM packages as root, including executing RPM scriptlets, without authentication. The vulnerability is a TOCTOU race condition on `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags`  combined with a silent state-machine guard that discards illegal backward transitions while leaving corrupted flags in place. Three bugs exist in `src/pk-transaction.c`:\n1. Unconditional flag overwrite (line 4036): `InstallFiles()` writes caller-supplied flags to `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags` without checking whether the transaction has already been  authorized/started. A second call blindly overwrites the flags even while the transaction is RUNNING.\n2. Silent state-transition rejection (lines 873\u2013882): `pk_transaction_set_state()` silently discards backward state transitions (e.g. `RUNNING` \u2192 `WAITING_FOR_AUTH`) but the flag overwrite at step 1 already happened. The transaction continues running with corrupted flags.\n3. Late flag read at execution time (lines 2273\u20132277): The scheduler\u0027s idle callback reads cached_transaction_flags at dispatch time, not at authorization time. If flags were overwritten between authorization and execution, the backend sees the attacker\u0027s flags."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackVector": "LOCAL",
            "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
            "baseScore": 8.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "scope": "CHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-367",
              "description": "CWE-367: Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-04-22T13:11:40.174Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "PackageKit vulnerable to TOCTOU Race on Transaction Flags leads to arbitrary package installation as root"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-41651",
    "datePublished": "2026-04-22T13:11:40.174Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-04-21T23:58:43.802Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-04-22T18:36:23.661Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2026-41651",
      "date": "2026-05-04",
      "epss": "0.00199",
      "percentile": "0.41739"
    },
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-41651\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"published\":\"2026-04-22T14:17:04.617\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-04-24T13:43:37.347\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Analyzed\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"PackageKit is a a D-Bus abstraction layer that allows the user to manage packages in a secure way using a cross-distro, cross-architecture API. PackageKit between and including versions 1.0.2 and 1.3.4 is vulnerable to a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition on transaction flags that allows unprivileged users to install packages as root and thus leads to a local privilege escalation. This is patched in version 1.3.5.\\n\\nA local unprivileged user can install arbitrary RPM packages as root, including executing RPM scriptlets, without authentication. The vulnerability is a TOCTOU race condition on `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags`  combined with a silent state-machine guard that discards illegal backward transitions while leaving corrupted flags in place. Three bugs exist in `src/pk-transaction.c`:\\n1. Unconditional flag overwrite (line 4036): `InstallFiles()` writes caller-supplied flags to `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags` without checking whether the transaction has already been  authorized/started. A second call blindly overwrites the flags even while the transaction is RUNNING.\\n2. Silent state-transition rejection (lines 873\u2013882): `pk_transaction_set_state()` silently discards backward state transitions (e.g. `RUNNING` \u2192 `WAITING_FOR_AUTH`) but the flag overwrite at step 1 already happened. The transaction continues running with corrupted flags.\\n3. Late flag read at execution time (lines 2273\u20132277): The scheduler\u0027s idle callback reads cached_transaction_flags at dispatch time, not at authorization time. If flags were overwritten between authorization and execution, the backend sees the attacker\u0027s flags.\"}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H\",\"baseScore\":8.8,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"LOCAL\",\"attackComplexity\":\"LOW\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"LOW\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"CHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"integrityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":2.0,\"impactScore\":6.0}]},\"weaknesses\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"description\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-367\"}]}],\"configurations\":[{\"nodes\":[{\"operator\":\"OR\",\"negate\":false,\"cpeMatch\":[{\"vulnerable\":true,\"criteria\":\"cpe:2.3:a:packagekit_project:packagekit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*\",\"versionStartIncluding\":\"1.0.2\",\"versionEndExcluding\":\"1.3.5\",\"matchCriteriaId\":\"533CCCB1-C825-4DE0-8A4C-1947F07D8E62\"}]}]}],\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Product\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Product\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Product\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Vendor Advisory\",\"Exploit\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Exploit\",\"Third Party Advisory\"]},{\"url\":\"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6\",\"source\":\"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108\",\"tags\":[\"Mailing List\",\"Patch\",\"Third Party Advisory\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html\",\"source\":\"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0\",\"tags\":[\"Exploit\",\"Third Party Advisory\"]}]}}",
    "vulnrichment": {
      "containers": "{\"adp\": [{\"title\": \"CVE Program Container\", \"references\": [{\"url\": \"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6\"}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108\", \"shortName\": \"CVE\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-04-22T17:21:17.120Z\"}}, {\"title\": \"CISA ADP Vulnrichment\", \"metrics\": [{\"other\": {\"type\": \"ssvc\", \"content\": {\"id\": \"CVE-2026-41651\", \"role\": \"CISA Coordinator\", \"options\": [{\"Exploitation\": \"poc\"}, {\"Automatable\": \"no\"}, {\"Technical Impact\": \"total\"}], \"version\": \"2.0.3\", \"timestamp\": \"2026-04-22T18:35:57.253778Z\"}}}], \"references\": [{\"url\": \"https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html\", \"tags\": [\"exploit\"]}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0\", \"shortName\": \"CISA-ADP\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-04-22T18:36:20.126Z\"}}], \"cna\": {\"title\": \"PackageKit vulnerable to TOCTOU Race on Transaction Flags leads to arbitrary package installation as root\", \"source\": {\"advisory\": \"GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv\", \"discovery\": \"UNKNOWN\"}, \"metrics\": [{\"cvssV3_1\": {\"scope\": \"CHANGED\", \"version\": \"3.1\", \"baseScore\": 8.8, \"attackVector\": \"LOCAL\", \"baseSeverity\": \"HIGH\", \"vectorString\": \"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H\", \"integrityImpact\": \"HIGH\", \"userInteraction\": \"NONE\", \"attackComplexity\": \"LOW\", \"availabilityImpact\": \"HIGH\", \"privilegesRequired\": \"LOW\", \"confidentialityImpact\": \"HIGH\"}}], \"affected\": [{\"vendor\": \"PackageKit\", \"product\": \"PackageKit\", \"versions\": [{\"status\": \"affected\", \"version\": \"\u003e= 1.0.2, \u003c= 1.3.4\"}]}], \"references\": [{\"url\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv\", \"name\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_CONFIRM\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277\", \"name\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036\", \"name\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882\", \"name\": \"https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html\", \"name\": \"https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"]}], \"descriptions\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"value\": \"PackageKit is a a D-Bus abstraction layer that allows the user to manage packages in a secure way using a cross-distro, cross-architecture API. PackageKit between and including versions 1.0.2 and 1.3.4 is vulnerable to a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition on transaction flags that allows unprivileged users to install packages as root and thus leads to a local privilege escalation. This is patched in version 1.3.5.\\n\\nA local unprivileged user can install arbitrary RPM packages as root, including executing RPM scriptlets, without authentication. The vulnerability is a TOCTOU race condition on `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags`  combined with a silent state-machine guard that discards illegal backward transitions while leaving corrupted flags in place. Three bugs exist in `src/pk-transaction.c`:\\n1. Unconditional flag overwrite (line 4036): `InstallFiles()` writes caller-supplied flags to `transaction-\u003ecached_transaction_flags` without checking whether the transaction has already been  authorized/started. A second call blindly overwrites the flags even while the transaction is RUNNING.\\n2. Silent state-transition rejection (lines 873\\u2013882): `pk_transaction_set_state()` silently discards backward state transitions (e.g. `RUNNING` \\u2192 `WAITING_FOR_AUTH`) but the flag overwrite at step 1 already happened. The transaction continues running with corrupted flags.\\n3. Late flag read at execution time (lines 2273\\u20132277): The scheduler\u0027s idle callback reads cached_transaction_flags at dispatch time, not at authorization time. If flags were overwritten between authorization and execution, the backend sees the attacker\u0027s flags.\"}], \"problemTypes\": [{\"descriptions\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"type\": \"CWE\", \"cweId\": \"CWE-367\", \"description\": \"CWE-367: Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition\"}]}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa\", \"shortName\": \"GitHub_M\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-04-22T13:11:40.174Z\"}}}",
      "cveMetadata": "{\"cveId\": \"CVE-2026-41651\", \"state\": \"PUBLISHED\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-04-22T18:36:23.661Z\", \"dateReserved\": \"2026-04-21T23:58:43.802Z\", \"assignerOrgId\": \"a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa\", \"datePublished\": \"2026-04-22T13:11:40.174Z\", \"assignerShortName\": \"GitHub_M\"}",
      "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
      "dataVersion": "5.2"
    }
  }
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.