CVE-2024-32462

Flatpak vulnerable to a sandbox escape via RequestBackground portal due to bad argument parsing

Published Apr 18, 2024 CVSS 3.1 · 8.4 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Flatpak is a system for building, distributing, and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux. in versions before 1.10.9, 1.12.9, 1.14.6, and 1.15.8, a malicious or compromised Flatpak app could execute arbitrary code outside its sandbox. Normally, the `--command` argument of `flatpak run` expects to be given a command to run in the specified Flatpak app, optionally along with some arguments. However it is possible to instead pass `bwrap` arguments to `--command=`, such as `--bind`. It's possible to pass an arbitrary `commandline` to the portal interface `org.freedesktop.portal.Background.RequestBackground` from within a Flatpak app. When this is converted into a `--command` and arguments, it achieves the same effect of passing arguments directly to `bwrap`, and thus can be used for a sandbox escape. The solution is to pass the `--` argument to `bwrap`, which makes it stop processing options. This has been supported since bubblewrap 0.3.0. All supported versions of Flatpak require at least that version of bubblewrap. xdg-desktop-portal version 1.18.4 will mitigate this vulnerability by only allowing Flatpak apps to create .desktop files for commands that do not start with --. The vulnerability is patched in 1.15.8, 1.10.9, 1.12.9, and 1.14.6.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-5666-1 flatpak security update
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2024-30279 Flatpak is a system for building, distributing, and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux. in versions before 1.10.9, 1.12.9, 1.14.6, and 1.15.8, a malicious or compromised Flatpak app could execute arbitrary code outside its sandbox. Normally, the `--command` argument of `flatpak run` expects to be given a command to run in the specified Flatpak app, optionally along with some arguments. However it is possible to instead pass `bwrap` arguments to `--command=`, such as `--bind`. It's possible to pass an arbitrary `commandline` to the portal interface `org.freedesktop.portal.Background.RequestBackground` from within a Flatpak app. When this is converted into a `--command` and arguments, it achieves the same effect of passing arguments directly to `bwrap`, and thus can be used for a sandbox escape. The solution is to pass the `--` argument to `bwrap`, which makes it stop processing options. This has been supported since bubblewrap 0.3.0. All supported versions of Flatpak require at least that version of bubblewrap. xdg-desktop-portal version 1.18.4 will mitigate this vulnerability by only allowing Flatpak apps to create .desktop files for commands that do not start with --. The vulnerability is patched in 1.15.8, 1.10.9, 1.12.9, and 1.14.6.
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'No', 'Exploitation': 'None', 'Technical Impact': 'Total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Fedoraproject
Fedoraproject fedora
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:40:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Fedoraproject
Fedoraproject fedora
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Flatpak
Flatpak flatpak
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:flatpak:flatpak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Flatpak
Flatpak flatpak
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'No', 'Exploitation': 'None', 'Technical Impact': 'Total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Dec 16, 2025, 6:13 PM
Reserved
Apr 12, 2024, 7:41 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Apr 18, 2024, 6:15 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 7:29 AM
Severity
Important
Public date
Apr 18, 2024, 12:00 AM