Description
It was discovered that snapctl user-open allowed altering the $XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable when calling the system xdg-open. OpenURL() in usersession/userd/launcher.go would alter $XDG_DATA_DIRS to append a path to a directory controlled by the calling snap. A malicious snap could exploit this to bypass intended access restrictions to control how the host system xdg-open script opens the URL and, for example, execute a script shipped with the snap without confinement. This issue did not affect Ubuntu Core systems. Fixed in snapd versions 2.45.1ubuntu0.2, 2.45.1+18.04.2 and 2.45.1+20.04.2.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical | snapd | 2.45.1 – < 2.45.1ubuntu0.2 | 2.45.1ubuntu0.2 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | snapd | 2.45.2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | snapd | 2.45.2-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | snapd | 2.45.2-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | snapd | 2.45.1+20.04.2 | USN-4424-1 |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | snapd | 2.45.1+18.04.2 | USN-4424-1 |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | snapd | 2.45.1ubuntu0.2 | USN-4424-1 |
Advisories 1
- USN-4424-1 snapd vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Feb 10, 2026