{"id":"CVE-2021-3560","published":"2022-02-16T19:15:08Z","modified":"2026-06-17T04:05:20Z","title":"Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability","vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Polkit","tier":"core","eol":null,"description":{"text":"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.","provenance":"source","from":"NVD"},"summary":{"text":"A flaw in Red Hat's Polkit authorization framework allows the credential checks applied to D-Bus requests to be bypassed, so a request is handled with root-level privileges. An attacker needs only local, unprivileged access and no user interaction to exploit it, for example to create a new local administrator account.","provenance":"ai","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","generatedAt":"2026-10-23T07:11:05Z"},"cvss":{"score":7.8,"severity":"HIGH","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","provenance":"source","from":"NVD"},"epss":{"score":0.23708,"percentile":0.97814,"date":"2026-10-29","provenance":"source"},"kev":{"dateAdded":"2023-05-12","dueDate":"2023-06-02","ransomware":false,"requiredAction":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","notes":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3560","provenance":"source"},"vulncheckKev":{"dateAdded":"2023-05-12","exploitedFirstSeen":"2023-05-12","ransomware":false,"evidence":[{"url":"https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json","date":"2023-05-12"}],"evidenceTotal":1,"provenance":"source"},"exploited":true,"otx":{"pulseCount":50,"pulses":[{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ae20c1db17e7057ae7d9ad1","created":"2026-10-28"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ae0ba7e0e2a97ff7b218819","created":"2026-10-27"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6adf68b85c3e852f3c111d18","created":"2026-10-26"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 24, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6adb740e397c3ad4799aa4cd","created":"2026-10-23"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 23, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ada236fcfba2dfa730ea482","created":"2026-10-22"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 22, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad8d33a077cbb5cab524d80","created":"2026-10-21"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 21, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad78130c4d1ac2be83a8b6d","created":"2026-10-20"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 20, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad62f63c24a405a3423cc13","created":"2026-10-19"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 19, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad4dda174e5797d0bd238b7","created":"2026-10-18"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 18, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad38c22e1848f8189d1c121","created":"2026-10-17"}],"provenance":"machine"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-754","name":"Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions"},{"id":"CWE-863","name":"Incorrect Authorization"}],"references":[{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710","tags":["Issue Tracking","Patch","Vendor Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710","tags":["Issue Tracking","Patch","Vendor Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560","tags":["US Government Resource"]}],"techniques":[{"id":"T1068","name":"Exploitation for Privilege Escalation","tactics":["privilege-escalation"],"provenance":"ai","basis":"ai-mapping","bases":["ai-mapping"],"basisDetail":"claude-haiku-5-5: local privilege escalation via polkit credential bypass","mappingType":"exploitation_technique","evidence":[{"from":"description","quote":"polkit could be tricked into bypassing the credential checks","start":18,"end":78}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","confidence":"medium","confidenceNote":"AI-mapped from the description (quote-validated, not expert-reviewed)"},{"id":"T1078","name":"Valid Accounts","tactics":["initial-access","persistence","privilege-escalation","stealth"],"provenance":"ai","basis":"ai-mapping","bases":["ai-mapping"],"basisDetail":"claude-haiku-5-5: requestor gains root-level privileges","mappingType":"primary_impact","evidence":[{"from":"description","quote":"elevating the privileges of the requestor to the root user","start":99,"end":157}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","confidence":"medium","confidenceNote":"AI-mapped from the description (quote-validated, not expert-reviewed)"}],"reports":[],"affected":[],"advisories":[],"euvd":{"id":"EUVD-2021-26871","url":"https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2021-26871","exploited":true,"exploitedSince":"2023-05-12","provenance":"source"},"exploits":[{"id":50011,"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50011","title":"Polkit 0.105-26 0.117-2 - Local Privilege Escalation","type":"local","platform":"linux","date":"2021-06-15","verified":true,"provenance":"source"}],"exploitSources":{"exploitdb":{"count":1,"earliest":"2021-06-15"},"pocGithub":{"count":30,"skipped":3,"earliest":"2021-06-11","earliestUrl":"https://github.com/aancw/polkit-auto-exploit","repos":[{"name":"secnigma/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-Privilege-Esclation","url":"https://github.com/secnigma/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-Privilege-Esclation","stars":126,"created":"2021-06-14"},{"name":"Almorabea/Polkit-exploit","url":"https://github.com/Almorabea/Polkit-exploit","stars":125,"created":"2021-06-19"},{"name":"RicterZ/CVE-2021-3560-Authentication-Agent","url":"https://github.com/RicterZ/CVE-2021-3560-Authentication-Agent","stars":116,"created":"2022-04-29"},{"name":"swapravo/polkadots","url":"https://github.com/swapravo/polkadots","stars":82,"created":"2021-06-11"},{"name":"hakivvi/CVE-2021-3560","url":"https://github.com/hakivvi/CVE-2021-3560","stars":40,"created":"2021-06-12"}]},"metasploit":[{"name":"Polkit D-Bus Authentication Bypass","module":"exploit/linux/local/polkit_dbus_auth_bypass","type":"exploit","disclosureDate":"2021-06-03","url":"https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/local/polkit_dbus_auth_bypass.rb"}],"first":{"date":"2021-06-03","source":"Metasploit","url":"https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/local/polkit_dbus_auth_bypass.rb"},"provenance":"source"},"exploitRefs":["https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/","http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html","http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html"],"flow":[{"stage":"exploitation","techniques":["T1068"],"provenance":"ai"},{"stage":"primary","techniques":["T1078"],"provenance":"ai"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2021-06-03","kind":"exploit-public","label":"First public exploit: Metasploit; later: PoC-in-GitHub 2021-06-11, Exploit-DB 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