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Full vulnerability report · 2022
CVE-2021-3560High confidence

Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability

Red Hat · Polkit

7.8HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Patch now

CISA confirms exploitation in the wild and lists 2023-06-02 as the remediation due date.

Patch available
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Select the national-authority views to include. The exact source language is shown on each matched advisory. Your choice is remembered on this device and encoded in the shareable URL.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2021-26871

CISA KEV mirrored by ENISA

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.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Recorded by ENISA since 12 May 2023. Evidence sources: cisa_kev.
ENISA score
7.8 · CVSS 3.1
Advisory evidence
12 linked advisory records
Explicit mitigation evidence

Only statements that explicitly mention a fix, patch, update, workaround or mitigation are shown here.

  • csaf_redhat · RHSA-2021:2238Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update
  • csaf_redhat · RHSA-2021:2555Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.7.19 packages and security update
  • csaf_opensuse · openSUSE-SU-2021:0838-1Security update for polkit
  • csaf_suse · SUSE-SU-2021:1842-1Security update for polkit
  • csaf_redhat · RHSA-2021:2522Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Virtualization Host security update [ovirt-4.4.6]
  • csaf_redhat · RHSA-2021:2236Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update
  • csaf_redhat · RHSA-2021:2237Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update
  • csaf_opensuse · openSUSE-SU-2021:1843-1Security update for polkit
  • csaf_suse · SUSE-SU-2021:1843-1Security update for polkit
  • csaf_suse · SUSE-SU-2021:1844-1Security update for polkit
Recommended actionPatch now

CISA confirms exploitation in the wild and lists 2023-06-02 as the remediation due date.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

Red Hat Polkit contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability through the bypassing of credential checks for D-Bus requests, allowing for privilege escalation.

What

Red Hat Polkit contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability through the bypassing of credential checks for D-Bus requests, allowing for privilege escalation.

Why

The application performs an authorisation check, but it does not correctly enforce the required permission boundary.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

What

Red Hat Polkit contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability through the bypassing of credential checks for D-Bus requests, allowing for privilege escalation.

Why

The application performs an authorisation check, but it does not correctly enforce the required permission boundary.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
Confirmed in the wild

CISA added this CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2023-05-12.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
Reference recorded

A structured CVE source labels at least one public reference as exploit material. BlackTree has not independently validated that it is safe, reliable or weaponised.

Likely attack path
local access → Incorrect Authorization → gain additional privileges
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-863 ↗

CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization. The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
Stolen credentials, tokens and legitimate administration functions may provide continued access without deploying a large custom toolset.
Privilege escalationCWE-863CISA KEVPublic exploit reference
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-26871Known-exploited evidence recorded

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.

Official EUVD record
CERT-FR · French · CERTFR-2022-AVI-351Multiples vulnérabilités dans les logiciels Juniper

ERecord?id=CVE-2020-35654 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7774 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7774 Référence CVE CVE-2021-23017 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-23017 Référence CVE CVE-2021-25289 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25289 Référence CVE CVE-2021-26691 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-26691 Référence CVE CVE-2021-3156 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3156 Référence CVE CVE-2021-31597 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-31597 Référence CVE CVE-2021-34552 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-34552 Référence CVE CVE-2021-3517 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3517 Référence CVE CVE-2021-3560 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3560 Référence CVE CVE-2021-4034 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-4034 Référence CVE CVE-2022-22187 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-22187 Référence CVE CVE-2022-22189 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-22189 Référence CVE CVE-2022-22190 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-22190 Gestion détaillée du document le 15 avril 2022 Version initiale Alertes Avis Bulletins d’actualités Mentions légales Conditions générales À propos Contact cyber.gouv.fr service-public.fr legifrance.gouv.fr info.gouv.fr france.fr info.gouv.fr/risques Premier Ministre / Secrétariat Général de la D

Official advisory
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
polkit 0.119
Fixed
An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
Action
Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 16 Feb 2022 · Last source change 21 Oct 2025, 23:15 UTC · CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-26871
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD enriched

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates →

No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.

Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Added to CISA KEV
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-26871↗CISA KEV record↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Public exploit reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2021-3560 · cve.blacktree.nl