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ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2021-3560

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2023-05-12 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel.

  • Published2022-02-16
  • WeaknessCWE-754 · CWE-863

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-06-15Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB
  2. 2022-02-1619:15CVE publishedNVD
  3. 2023-05-12Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  4. 2023-05-12Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  5. 2023-05-12Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
  6. 2025-01-2921:24SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-3560?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-3560?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
20.4= 20.04no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
11.0= 11.0no fix published
Polkit project polkit
BranchAffectedFixed in
0.119< 0.1190.119

3 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As redhat, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • polkit
    Affected
    • = polkit 0.119no fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2023-06-12

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • cri-oRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el8all versions · fixed in 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el8and 2 other packages
  • cri-oRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el7all versions · fixed in 0:1.20.3-6.rhaos4.7.git0d0f863.el7and 1 other package
  • dhcpRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el8all versions · fixed in 12:4.3.6-41.el8_3.1and 9 other packages
  • openshift-clientsRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el8all versions · fixed in 0:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el8and 1 other package
  • openshift-clientsRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el7all versions · fixed in 0:4.7.0-202106252127.p0.git.8b4b094.el7and 1 other package
  • openshift-kuryrRed Hat:openshift:4.7::el8all versions · fixed in 0:4.7.0-202106232224.p0.git.c7654fb.el8and 4 other packages
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-31
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-26ubuntu1.1

58 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-3560 Red Hat Product Security137 products fixed

    polkit: local privilege escalation using polkit_system_bus_name_get_creds_sync()

  • RHSA-2021:2555 Red Hat Product Security42 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.7.19 packages and security update

  • RHSA-2021:2522 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Virtualization Host security update [ovirt-4.4.6]

  • RHSA-2021:2238 Red Hat Product Security31 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update

  • RHSA-2021:2237 Red Hat Product Security31 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update

  • RHSA-2021:2236 Red Hat Product Security31 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2023-06-02
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2021:2555 · 42 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.7 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.7/release_notes/ocp-4-7-r…
  3. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2021:2522 · 2 productsBefore applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/2974891
  4. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2021:2238 · 31 productsFor details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
  5. Workaround from the vendor Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2021:2555 · 42 productsRed Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update as soon as possible.

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-50011
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
20 repositories, unverifiedaancw/polkit-auto-exploitswapravo/polkadotshakivvi/CVE-2021-3560iSTAR-Lab/CVE-2021-3560_PoCsecnigma/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-Privilege-Esclation
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/linux/local/polkit_dbus_auth_bypassrank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2023-05-12
Patch Due Date
2023-06-02
Ransomware Use
Unknown
Required Action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2022-02-16
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-7c49-j253-wq5r

Frequently asked questions

What is 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.

Is CVE-2021-3560 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2021-3560 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2023-06-02.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-3560?

CVE-2021-3560 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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