CVE-2022-21682 [High] | Path Traversal in Flatpak

Flatpak is a Linux application sandboxing and distribution framework. A path traversal vulnerability affects versions of Flatpak prior to 1.12.3 and 1.10.6. flatpak-builder applies `finish-args` last in the build. At this point the build directory will have the full access that is specified in the manifest, so running `flatpak build` against it will gain those permissions. Normally this will not be done, so this is not problem. However, if `--mirror-screenshots-url` is specified, then flatpak-builder will launch `flatpak build --nofilesystem=host appstream-utils mirror-screenshots` after finalization, which can lead to issues even with the `--nofilesystem=host` protection. In normal use, the only issue is that these empty directories can be created wherever the user has write permissions. However, a malicious application could replace the `appstream-util` binary and potentially do something more hostile. This has been resolved in Flatpak 1.12.3 and 1.10.6 by changing the behaviour of `--nofilesystem=home` and `--nofilesystem=host`.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.34%	1.71%	+1.38%
2	2026-01-20	0.36%	0.34%	-0.02%
3	2025-12-28	—	0.36%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.34%

1.71%

+1.38%

2026-01-20

0.36%

0.34%

-0.02%

2025-12-28

—

0.36%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.7	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	3.1	4.0	[email protected]
6.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.8	3.6	[email protected]
4.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:S) A single authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:P) Partial integrity impact. Availability impact (A:N) No availability impact.	8.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.7

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

3.1

4.0

[email protected]

6.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.8

3.6

[email protected]

4.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S): A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P): Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N): No availability impact.

8.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-21682

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2022-21682: 2 source package rows (flatpak, flatpak-builder); 23 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 23, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-21682
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2022-21682 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (flatpak), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-21682
`gentoo`	high	CVE-2022-21682: 1 GLSA(s) (202312-12), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/flatpak); latest impact high.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-21682
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-21682
`suse`	medium	CVE-2022-21682 severity moderate: SUSE including 58 source package names (flatpak, flatpak-1.10.7-4.12.1, …), 169 product×package rows across 35 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (35 product lines)): Fixed 122, Will Not Fix 40, Known Not Affected 7.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-21682/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2022-21682 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (flatpak), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 5, needs-triage 3, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-21682

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21682

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
flatpak	flatpak	< 1.10.7	cpe:2.3:a:flatpak:flatpak::::::::
flatpak	flatpak	>= 1.11.1, < 1.12.4	cpe:2.3:a:flatpak:flatpak::::::::
flatpak	flatpak-builder	< 1.2.2	cpe:2.3:a:flatpak:flatpak-builder::::::::
fedoraproject	fedora	35	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:::::::*
redhat	enterprise_linux	8.0	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	9.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	10.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	11.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2022-21682

URL	Tags
https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/commit/445bddeee657fdc8d2a0a1f0de12975400d4fc1a	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/commit/4d11f77aa7fd3e64cfa80af89d92567ab9e8e6fa	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/security/advisories/GHSA-8ch7-5j3h-g4fx	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/APFTBYGJJVJPFVHRXUW5PII5XOAFI4KH/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IXKBERLJRYV7KXKGXOLI6IOXVBQNN4DP/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202312-12
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5049	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2022-21682 | flatpak-builder can access files outside the build directory.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-21682

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21682

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-21682

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-21682

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21682

References for CVE-2022-21682