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…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- redhat
Description
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability.
- Added
- 12 May 2023
- Fix due (US federal)
- 2 Jun 2023
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 9 months later
· 9 months later
Published
- 15 months later
· 15 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 2 years later
· 2 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 22.2% · top 2.3% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Weakness
Affected products
polkit
- affected polkit 0.119
References (5)
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/ (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2021-3560)Record last updated .