CVE-2023-28101: Flatpak metadata with ANSI control codes can cause misleading terminal output

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-03-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-116

Description

Flatpak is a system for building, distributing, and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux. In versions prior to 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, and 1.15.4, if an attacker publishes a Flatpak app with elevated permissions, they can hide those permissions from users of the `flatpak(1)` command-line interface by setting other permissions to crafted values that contain non-printable control characters such as `ESC`. A fix is available in versions 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, and 1.15.4. As a workaround, use a GUI like GNOME Software rather than the command-line interface, or only install apps whose maintainers you trust.

Affected products

flatpak: before 1.10.8; from 1.12.0 before 1.12.8; from 1.14.0 before 1.14.4; from 1.15.0 before 1.15.4 — fixed in 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, 1.15.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: flatpak 1.10.8, 1.12.8, 1.14.4, 1.15.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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