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NVD / CVE Program· CNA redhat

CVE-2021-3560: It was found that polkit could be tricked into bypassing the credential checks for D-Bus requests, elevating the privileges of the requestor

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 68/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (May 12, 2023). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Jun 2, 2023.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 23.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 97.8% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: policykit-1 (Debian:12) 0.105-31; polkit (openSUSE:Leap 15.2) 0.116-lp152.2.3.1; polkit (openSUSE:Leap 15.3) 0.116-3.3.1.

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Upgrade to policykit-1 (Debian:12) 0.105-31; polkit (openSUSE:Leap 15.2) 0.116-lp152.2.3.1; polkit (openSUSE:Leap 15.3) 0.116-3.3.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

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.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized Fix available
Published
Feb 16, 2022
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
23.7% · 97th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

68

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
7 / 30 · 23.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 12, 2023. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Jun 2, 2023.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
polkit projectpolkit
debiandebian linux
canonicalubuntu linux
redhatvirtualization
redhatvirtualization host
redhatenterprise linux
redhatopenshift container platform

Affected versions

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

  • canonical ubuntu linux20.04
  • debian debian linux11.0
  • polkit project polkitbefore 0.119
  • redhat openshift container platform4.7
  • redhat virtualization4.0
  • redhat virtualization host4.0

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (redhat). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • n/a polkit

    • polkit 0.119affected

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12policykit-1before 0.105-310.105-31
openSUSE:Leap 15.2polkitbefore 0.116-lp152.2.3.10.116-lp152.2.3.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.3polkitbefore 0.116-3.3.10.116-3.3.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedpolkitbefore 0.118-7.20.118-7.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkitbefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-debuginfobefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-debugsourcebefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-develbefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-docsbefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-libsbefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseospolkit-libs-debuginfobefore 0:0.115-11.el8_4.10:0.115-11.el8_4.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7cri-obefore 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el70:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el7
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7cri-o-debuginfobefore 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el70:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el7
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7openshift-clientsbefore 0:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el70:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el7
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7openshift-clients-redistributablebefore 0:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el70:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el7
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8cri-obefore 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el80:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el8
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8cri-o-debuginfobefore 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el80:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el8
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8cri-o-debugsourcebefore 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el80:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el8
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcpbefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcp-clientbefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcp-client-debuginfobefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcp-commonbefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcp-debuginfobefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1
Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el8dhcp-debugsourcebefore 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.112:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1

+36

Same product

polkit project: all records

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-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

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2015-3255Oct 26, 2015 · The polkit_backend_action_pool_init function in polkitbackend/polkitbackendactionpool.c in PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 might allow l
    18Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2015-3256Oct 26, 2015 · PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibl
    18Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-4115Feb 21, 2022 · There is a flaw in polkit which can allow an unprivileged user to cause polkit to crash, due to process file descriptor exhaustion.
    22Monitor

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
debian:policykit-10.105-31 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:polkit0.116-lp152.2.3.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.2Package registry (OSV)
red hat:cri-o0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el7 · Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7Package registry (OSV)
red hat:cri-o-debuginfo0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el7 · Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openshift-clients0:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el7 · Red Hat:openshift:4.7::el7Package registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-debuginfo0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-debugsource0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-devel0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-docs0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-libs0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:polkit-libs-debuginfo0:0.115-9.el8_1.1 · Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.1::baseosPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:redhat-virtualization-host0:4.4.6-20210615.0.el8_4 · Red Hat:rhev_hypervisor:4.4::el8Package registry (OSV)
red hat:redhat-virtualization-host-image-update0:4.4.6-20210615.0.el8_4 · Red Hat:rhev_hypervisor:4.4::el8Package registry (OSV)
rocky linux:polkit0:0.115-11.el8_4.1 · Rocky Linux:8Package registry (OSV)
suse:polkit0.113-5.21.1 · SUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×1
  • Exploit-DB entry ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×33

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
Exploit-DB entrylocal2021-06-15
Metasploit moduleexploit/linux/local/polkit_dbus_auth_bypassPolkit D-Bus Authentication Bypassexploit2021-06-03
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:52021-06-11
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:822021-06-11
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:402021-06-12
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02021-06-14
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:1262021-06-14
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02021-06-15
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:1252021-06-19
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:242021-06-29
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:22021-07-02
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:22021-07-28

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. Metasploit-259 d
  2. First PoC-251 d
  3. Published
  4. CISA KEV+449 d
  5. TodayOct 30, 2026+1717 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.

Credits

All researchers

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

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (3 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records