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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 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.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 7 products from polkit_project, from debian, from canonical and 4 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2022, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.

Published

2022-02-16T19:15:08.450

Last Modified

2025-11-06T14:50:43.827

Status

Analyzed

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.8 (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: Secondary
CWE-863
Type: Primary
CWE-754

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	polkit_project	polkit	< 0.119	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	11.0	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	20.04	Yes
Application	redhat	virtualization	4.0	Yes
Application	redhat	virtualization_host	4.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	8.0	No
Application	redhat	openshift_container_platform	4.7	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0	No
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	8.0	No

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710 Issue Tracking, Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710 Issue Tracking, Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560 US Government Resource (134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)

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 polkit_project'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.