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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2021-4115

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2022-02-21
  • WeaknessCWE-400

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

There is a flaw in polkit which can allow an unprivileged user to cause polkit to crash, due to process file descriptor exhaustion. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to availability. NOTE: Polkit process outage duration is tied to the failing process being reaped and a new one being spawned

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2022-02-2122:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-04 03:37 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-2021-4115?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-4115?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
21.10= 21.10no fix published
Fedoraproject fedora
BranchAffectedFixed in
34.x= 34no fix published
35.x= 35no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
11.0= 11.0no fix published

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.

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:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 0.105-26ubuntu1.3
  • policykit-1Debian:14all versions · fixed in 0.105-32
  • policykit-1Debian:13all versions · fixed in 0.105-32
  • policykit-1Debian:12all versions · fixed in 0.105-32
  • polkitTuxCare:CentOS:8.5all versions · fixed in 0.115-12.el8.5.tuxcare.els2and 3 other packages
  • polkitTuxCare:CentOS:8.4all versions · fixed in 0.115-11.el8.4.1.tuxcare.els2and 3 other packages
  • polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 12 SP5all versions · fixed in 0.113-5.27.1
  • polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5all versions · fixed in 0.113-5.27.1

18 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-4115 Red Hat Product Security31 products fixed

    polkit: file descriptor leak allows an unprivileged user to cause a crash

  • RHSA-2022:1546 Red Hat Product Security31 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: polkit security update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2022:1546 · 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

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • NVDCVSS 3.15.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.02.1read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-400known since 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score0.5 %2026-11-03
  • OSVaffected packages—

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2022-02-21
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-4115?

There is a flaw in polkit which can allow an unprivileged user to cause polkit to crash, due to process file descriptor exhaustion. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to availability. NOTE: Polkit process outage duration is tied to the failing process being reaped and a new one being spawned

Is CVE-2021-4115 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-4115 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 0.5% on 2026-11-03, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-4115?

CVE-2021-4115 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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Sources for this record