Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2013-4288

Race condition in PolicyKit (aka polkit) allows local users to bypass intended PolicyKit restrictions and gain privileges by starting a setuid or pkexec process before the authorization check is performed, related to (1) the polkit_unix_process_new API function, (2) the dbus API, or (3) the --process (unix-process) option for authorization to pkcheck.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2013-4288 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 4 products from opensuse, from polkit_project, from canonical and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2013, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2013-10-03T21:55:04.257

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 7.2 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-362

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	12.2	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	12.3	Yes
Application	polkit_project	polkit	< 0.112.1	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.10	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	13.04	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	6.0	Yes

References

http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1002375 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00004.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00005.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00062.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-11/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1270.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1460.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2013/q3/626 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/09/18/4 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1953-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1002375 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00004.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00005.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00062.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-11/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1270.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1460.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2013/q3/626 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/09/18/4 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1953-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For opensuse's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.