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CVE-2015-3256· NVD / CVE Program· CNA redhat

PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibl

PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."

MediumCVSS 4.6 · v2.0—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Oct 26, 2015
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.4% · 27th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

18

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
18 / 40 · 4.6 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.4%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
polkit projectpolkit
opensuseopensuse

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • opensuse opensuse13.1
  • opensuse opensuse13.2
  • polkit project polkitup to 0.112 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientpolkitbefore 0:0.112-6.el7_20:0.112-6.el7_2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientpolkit-debuginfobefore 0:0.112-6.el7_20:0.112-6.el7_2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientpolkit-develbefore 0:0.112-6.el7_20:0.112-6.el7_2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientpolkit-docsbefore 0:0.112-6.el7_20:0.112-6.el7_2
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12polkitbefore 0.113-4.10.113-4.1

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-4034A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found on polkit's pkexec utility.KEV
    89Now
  • CVE-2021-3560It was found that polkit could be tricked into bypassing the credential checks for D-Bus requests, elevating the privileges of the requestorKEV
    68This week
  • CVE-2018-19788A flaw was found in PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.115 that allows a user with a uid greater than INT_MAX to successfully execute any systemctl co
    38Monitor
  • CVE-2019-6133In PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.115, the "start time" protection mechanism can be bypassed because fork() is not atomic, and therefore authoriza
    26Monitor
  • CVE-2021-4115There is a flaw in polkit which can allow an unprivileged user to cause polkit to crash, due to process file descriptor exhaustion.
    22Monitor
  • CVE-2015-3255The polkit_backend_action_pool_init function in polkitbackend/polkitbackendactionpool.c in PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 might allow l
    18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
red hat:polkit0:0.112-6.el7_2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-debuginfo0:0.112-6.el7_2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-devel0:0.112-6.el7_2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-docs0:0.112-6.el7_2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::clientPackage registry (OSV)
suse:polkit0.113-4.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02026-05-12

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+3850 d
  3. TodaySep 30, 2026+3992 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
P · data can be read
Integrity
P · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
P · the service can be disrupted
Attack complexity
Low
Confidentiality impact
P
Integrity impact
P
Availability impact
P

CVSS vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

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