CVEs / CVE-2021-3560
CVE-2021-3560: Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability
- Known exploited in the CISA KEV catalog since 12 May 2023
- high 7.8 CVSS 3.1 (NVD)
- EPSS 23.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 97% of CVEs (30 Oct 2026)
- Last changed at its sources
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Summary
Red Hat Polkit contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability through the bypassing of credential checks for D-Bus requests, allowing for privilege escalation.
Description
It was found that polkit could be tricked into bypassing the credential checks for D-Bus requests, elevating the privileges of the requestor to the root user. This flaw could be used by an unprivileged local attacker to, for example, create a new local administrator. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.
Affected and fixed versions
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| n/a polkit | polkit 0.119 | — |
Exploitation
| In CISA KEV since | 12 May 2023 |
|---|---|
| Due date for US federal agencies | 2 Jun 2023 |
| Used in ransomware campaigns | Unknown |
| Required action | Apply updates per vendor instructions. |
Severity
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.8 highCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HScored by NVD |
|---|---|
| Weakness | CWE-863, CWE-754 |
References
- CVE-2021-3560 on NVD
- CVE-2021-3560 in the CISA KEV catalog
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710 (cited by CISA)
- CVE-2021-3560 on OSV
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710 Issue Tracking, Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560 US Government Resource
Sources
Exploitation status from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EPSS scores from FIRST. Descriptions, severity and references from the National Vulnerability Database. Open-source package versions from OSV (CC-BY 4.0). Text is shown as each source states it; Stackurity does not edit it. Check the vendor's advisory before acting.
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.