Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Polkit Affecting Linux Systems
CVE-2021-3560

7.8HIGH

Key Information:

Vendor
Polkit Project
Status
Polkit
Vendor
CVE Published:
16 February 2022

Badges

👾 Exploit Exists🟡 Public PoC🦅 CISA Reported

Summary

A flaw in Polkit allows an unprivileged local attacker to bypass credential checks for D-Bus requests. This can lead to the elevation of privileges to that of the root user, enabling the attacker to execute commands with elevated permissions. This vulnerability poses a significant threat to the confidentiality of sensitive data, the integrity of system configurations, and can affect overall system availability.

CISA Reported

CISA provides regional cyber and physical services to support security and resilience across the United States. CISA monitor the most dangerious vulnerabilities and have identifed as being exploited but is not known by the CISA to be used in ransomware campaigns. This is subject to change at pace

The CISA's recommendation is: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Affected Version(s)

polkit polkit 0.119

Exploit Proof of Concept (PoC)

PoC code is written by security researchers to demonstrate the vulnerability can be exploited. PoC code is also a key component for weaponization which could lead to ransomware.

References

CVSS V3.1

Score:
7.8
Severity:
HIGH
Confidentiality:
High
Integrity:
High
Availability:
High
Attack Vector:
Local
Attack Complexity:
Low
Privileges Required:
Low
User Interaction:
None
Scope:
Unchanged

Timeline

  • 🟡

    Public PoC available

  • 👾

    Exploit known to exist

  • 🦅

    CISA Reported

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

.