Description
A flaw was found in PackageKit. PackageKit skips the polkit authorization check for transactions carrying the SIMULATE (dry-run) flag. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores that contract and always executes the real transaction because its guard is written as (role == REPO_REMOVE || !SIMULATE), which is always true for RepoRemove. An unprivileged local user can therefore perform a genuine package uninstall while claiming to simulate. This vulnerability only affects systems using PackageKit with the dnf5 backend.
Published: 2026-09-14
Score: 7.1 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 21:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in PackageKit. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores the SIMULATE transaction flag and executes a real package removal, allowing an unprivileged local user to uninstall packages without polkit authorization. A flaw was found in PackageKit. PackageKit skips the polkit authorization check for transactions carrying the SIMULATE (dry-run) flag. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores that contract and always executes the real transaction because its guard is written as (role == REPO_REMOVE || !SIMULATE), which is always true for RepoRemove. An unprivileged local user can therefore perform a genuine package uninstall while claiming to simulate. This vulnerability only affects systems using PackageKit with the dnf5 backend.
Title packagekit: PackageKit: PackageKit dnf5 ignores SIMULATE on RepoRemove PackageKit: dnf5 backend ignores SIMULATE on RepoRemove
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
References

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Packagekit
Packagekit packagekit
Vendors & Products Packagekit
Packagekit packagekit

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in PackageKit. In the dnf5 backend, the RepoRemove handler ignores the SIMULATE transaction flag and executes a real package removal, allowing an unprivileged local user to uninstall packages without polkit authorization.
Title packagekit: PackageKit: PackageKit dnf5 ignores SIMULATE on RepoRemove
Weaknesses CWE-863
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H'}

threat_severity

Important


Subscriptions

Packagekit Packagekit
Redhat Enterprise Linux
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: fedora

Published:

Updated: 2026-09-14T20:05:00.169Z

Reserved: 2026-08-14T02:40:21.336Z

Link: CVE-2026-19816

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-14T20:16:43.760

Modified: 2026-09-14T20:16:43.760

Link: CVE-2026-19816

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Important

Publid Date: 2026-09-09T19:36:39Z

Links: CVE-2026-19816 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-09-10T11:30:06Z

Weaknesses