{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ranges": [
        {
          "database_specific": {
            "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:packagekit_project:packagekit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "introduced": "1.0.2"
              },
              {
                "last_affected": "1.3.4"
              },
              {
                "fixed": "1.3.5"
              }
            ],
            "source": [
              "AFFECTED_FIELD",
              "CPE_RANGE"
            ]
          },
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "8b16f323f7c465914c8d67c03f29d72820cb12c7"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "d9cae13b326238488bf06fb5bf458cfeeaf71869"
            }
          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/packagekit/packagekit",
          "type": "GIT"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-367"
    ],
    "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/41xxx/CVE-2026-41651.json"
  },
  "details": "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 873–882): `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.\n3. 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.",
  "id": "CVE-2026-41651",
  "modified": "2026-07-08T05:39:30.787996218Z",
  "published": "2026-04-22T13:11:40.174Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/22/6"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L2273-L2277"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L4036"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/blob/04057883189efa225a7c785591aa87cb299782f8/src/pk-transaction.c#L873-L882"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.security.telekom.com/2026/04/pack2theroot-linux-local-privilege-escalation.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-41651.json"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11504"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11635"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17558"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17560"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17561"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18024"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18031"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18036"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19141"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19354"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19454"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19601"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22146"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-41651"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/41xxx/CVE-2026-41651.json"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/security/advisories/GHSA-f55j-vvr9-69xv"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41651"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2460604"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.7.5",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "PackageKit vulnerable to TOCTOU Race on Transaction Flags leads to arbitrary package installation as root"
}