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ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2021-4034

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2022-06-27 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel.

  • Published2022-01-28
  • WeaknessCWE-125 · CWE-787

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

A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found on polkit's pkexec utility. The pkexec application is a setuid tool designed to allow unprivileged users to run commands as privileged users according predefined policies. The current version of pkexec doesn't handle the calling parameters count correctly and ends trying to execute environment variables as commands. An attacker can leverage this by crafting environment variables in such a way it'll induce pkexec to execute arbitrary code. When successfully executed the attack can cause a local privilege escalation given unprivileged users administrative rights on the target machine.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2022-01-27Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB
  2. 2022-01-2820:15CVE publishedNVD
  3. 2022-06-27Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  4. 2022-06-27Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  5. 2022-06-27Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
  6. 2025-10-1210:21SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day1 indicator over 7 days
02
IndicatorSeen
0e7c96a22e3612c68866a8693cc583df95972d3444978ce163c024a45682133a1 day ago
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-4034?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-4034?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Redhat enterprise linux server aus
BranchAffectedFixed in
7.3= 7.3no fix published
7.4= 7.4no fix published
7.6= 7.6no fix published
7.7= 7.7no fix published
8.2= 8.2no fix published
8.4= 8.4no fix published
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
14.4= 14.04no fix published
16.4= 16.04no fix published
18.4= 18.04no fix published
20.4= 20.04no fix published
21.10= 21.10no fix published
Redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions
BranchAffectedFixed in
7.6= 7.6no fix published
7.7= 7.7no fix published
8.1= 8.1no fix published
8.2= 8.2no fix published
8.4= 8.4no fix published

27 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
    • all versionsno fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2023-10-18

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

  • policykit-1Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-14.1ubuntu0.5+esm1
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-4ubuntu3.14.04.6+esm1
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-31ubuntu1
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-26ubuntu1.2
  • policykit-1Ubuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-20ubuntu0.18.04.6
  • policykit-1TuxCare:Ubuntu:16.04all versions · fixed in 0.105-14.1ubuntu0.5+tuxcare.els1and 8 other packages
  • policykit-1Debian:14all versions · fixed in 0.105-31.1
  • policykit-1Debian:13all versions · fixed in 0.105-31.1

84 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-4034 Red Hat Product Security251 products fixed

    polkit: Local privilege escalation in pkexec due to incorrect handling of argument vector

  • ICSA-23-075-01 CISA20 known affected

    Siemens SCALANCE, RUGGEDCOM Third-Party

    RUGGEDCOM RM1224 LTE(4G) EU (6GK6108-4AM00-2BA2) · RUGGEDCOM RM1224 LTE(4G) NAM (6GK6108-4AM00-2DA2) · SCALANCE M804PB (6GK5804-0AP00-2AA2) · +17 more

  • SSA-419740 Siemens ProductCERT20 known affected

    SSA-419740: Multiple Third-Party Component Vulnerabilities in RUGGEDCOM and SCALANCE Products before V7.2

    RUGGEDCOM RM1224 LTE(4G) EU (6GK6108-4AM00-2BA2) · RUGGEDCOM RM1224 LTE(4G) NAM (6GK6108-4AM00-2DA2) · SCALANCE M804PB (6GK5804-0AP00-2AA2) · +17 more

  • ICSA-22-270-02 CISA4 known affected

    Hitachi Energy APM Edge

    Lumada APM Edge: Version 3.0 · Lumada APM Edge: Version 1.0 · Lumada APM Edge: Version 4.0 · +1 more

  • ICSA-22-167-16 CISA2 known affected

    Siemens SCALANCE LPE 4903 and SINUMERIK Edge

    SCALANCE LPE9403 · SINUMERIK Edge

  • SSA-330556 Siemens ProductCERT2 known affected

    SSA-330556: PwnKit Vulnerability in SCALANCE LPE9403 and SINUMERIK Edge Products (CVE-2021-4034)

    SCALANCE LPE9403 · SINUMERIK Edge

12 more advisories

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2022-07-18
  2. Vendor fix Siemens ProductCERT SSA-419740 · 20 productsUpdate to V7.2 or later version
  3. Vendor fix CISA ICSA-23-075-01 · 20 productsUpdate to V7.2 or later version
  4. Vendor fix CISA ICSA-22-270-02 · 4 productsWhen applicable, Hitachi Energy recommends users update to Lumada APM Edge v6.3 at the earliest convenience.
  5. Vendor fix CISA ICSA-22-167-16 · 1 productUpdate to V2.0 or later version
  6. Vendor fix CISA ICSA-22-167-16 · 1 productUpdate to V3.3.0 or later version
  7. Vendor fix Siemens ProductCERT SSA-330556 · 1 productUpdate to V2.0 or later version

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-50689
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
20 repositories, unverifiedryaagard/CVE-2021-4034berdav/CVE-2021-4034clubby789/CVE-2021-4034gbrsh/CVE-2021-4034arthepsy/CVE-2021-4034
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/linux/local/cve_2021_4034_pwnkit_lpe_pkexecrank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2022-06-27
Patch Due Date
2022-07-18
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
2022-01-28
Last Modified
2026-08-15
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-qgr2-xgqv-24x8

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-4034?

A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found on polkit's pkexec utility. The pkexec application is a setuid tool designed to allow unprivileged users to run commands as privileged users according predefined policies. The current version of pkexec doesn't handle the calling parameters count correctly and ends trying to execute environment variables as commands. An attacker can leverage this by crafting environment variables in such a way it'll induce pkexec to execute arbitrary code. When successfully executed the attack can cause a local privilege escalation given unprivileged users administrative rights on the target machine.

Is CVE-2021-4034 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2021-4034 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 2022-07-18.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-4034?

CVE-2021-4034 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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