# CVE-2026-41651: CVE-2026-41651

Status: published. Published: 2026-04-22. Updated: 2026-11-11.

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.

## Remediation

- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108) — http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6

## Affected products and versions

- packagekit_project / packagekit: ≥ 1.0.2; < 1.3.5 (affected, custom). Source: NVD

## NVD configuration conditions

Affected CPE matches depend on the following AND/OR and negation conditions:

```json
[
  {
    "negate": false,
    "nodes": [
      {
        "cpeMatch": [
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:packagekit_project:packagekit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "versionEndExcluding": "1.3.5",
            "versionStartIncluding": "1.0.2",
            "vulnerable": true
          }
        ],
        "negate": false,
        "operator": "OR"
      }
    ],
    "operator": "OR"
  }
]
```

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 8.8 (high); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: NVD: security-advisories@github.com

- CVSS 3.1: 8.8 (high); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: NVD: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact total; source NVD SSVC: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

- Weaknesses: CWE-367

## Exploit evidence

- exploit: https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv (security-advisories@github.com)
- exploit: https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html (security-advisories@github.com)

## References

- https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277 (security-advisories@github.com; Product)

- https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036 (security-advisories@github.com; Product)

- https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882 (security-advisories@github.com; Product)

- https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv (security-advisories@github.com; Exploit, Vendor Advisory)

- https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html (security-advisories@github.com; Exploit, Third Party Advisory)

- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108; Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11504 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11635 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17558 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17560 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17561 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18024 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18031 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18036 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19141 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19354 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19454 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19601 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22146 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-41651 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2460604 (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-41651.json (0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c)

## Provenance

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41651; retrieved 2026-11-12; source updated 2026-11-11

Revision: 66a84f548693018e7d594776186a3ba6bac18c853ac0e91fe8bd8265c086df28

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-41651

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