CVE DATABASE / CVE-2021-3560
CVE-2021-3560
Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability
Confirmed exploited in the wild. Added 2023-05-12.
Federal remediation due 2023-06-02.
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Summary
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.
CVSS 3.1 breakdown
| Base score | 7.8 (HIGH) |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Attack vector | LOCAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | LOW |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity | HIGH |
| Availability | HIGH |
Weakness type (CWE)
Affected products
Use our free CVE Lookup tool for the latest NVD record, or browse the full CISA KEV catalog.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710
- https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560
Data: NIST NVD + CISA KEV. NVD last modified 2025-11-06. Always verify against the vendor advisory before acting.