CVE-2026-5674
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA flaw was found in PipeWire, a multimedia server. This vulnerability allows an attacker to escape sandboxed applications, such as Flatpak, by exploiting PipeWire's PulseAudio compatibility layer. An attacker with minimal permissions within a sandboxed environment can load a malicious library, leading to arbitrary code execution outside the sandbox and potential compromise of the user's system.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThis is a sandbox escape vulnerability in PipeWire's PulseAudio compatibility layer. An attacker with minimal permissions inside a sandboxed environment (such as Flatpak) can load a malicious library through the compatibility layer, bypassing sandbox isolation to achieve arbitrary code execution on the host system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify PipeWire is installedRun 'pw-cli --version' or check your package manager for pipewire packages (e.g., dpkg -l | grep pipewire, rpm -qa pipewire)Affected if PipeWire is installed and the PulseAudio compatibility layer is in use
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Determine installed PipeWire versionRun 'pw-cli --version' or check your system's package database for the exact version numberAffected if The installed version is older than the patched version for CVE-2026-5674; compare against the fixed release
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Confirm PulseAudio compatibility layer is activeCheck for running PulseAudio server that is actually using PipeWire (run 'pactl info' and look for 'Server Name' containing 'PulseAudio' over 'PipeWire'); also check for presence of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pulseaudio/ or similar compatibility module pathsAffected if The PulseAudio compatibility module (libpulse*.so via PipeWire) is loaded or available on the system
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Inspect PulseAudio library configurationReview pulse/client.conf and related config files in /etc/pulse/ or ~/.config/pulse/ for 'dlsearchpath' or 'load-libraries' directives that control where libraries are loaded fromAffected if Unrestricted or overly broad library search paths are configured that allow loading from user-writable directories
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Check for suspicious library files in PulseAudio pathsList contents of the PulseAudio library directories (e.g., /usr/lib/pulse/, ~/.local/lib/pulse/) and verify only expected libraries are present; look for any unexpected .so files with recent timestamps or unusual namesAffected if Unexpected or unauthorized shared library files exist in the PulseAudio library search paths
A user is affected if they have PipeWire installed with the PulseAudio compatibility layer enabled and are running a version older than the patched release for CVE-2026-5674.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate PipeWire to the patched version once available, and review sandbox permissions to restrict library loading paths within sandboxed applications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-5674 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-5674 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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