CVE-2021-4034
high · 7.8Actively exploitedOn the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Added 2022-06-27Remediation due 2022-07-18
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.
7.8
CVSS
94.9%
EPSS (exploit prob.)
100th
EPSS percentile
2022-01-28
Published
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
CWE-787CWE-125
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|
| polkit_project | polkit | < 121 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions | 7.6 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions | 7.7 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux | 8.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_desktop | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_eus | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems | 8.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian | 8.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus | 8.1 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computing | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server | 6.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server | 7.0 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 7.3 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 7.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 7.6 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 7.7 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_aus | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_eus | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_tus | 7.6 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_tus | 7.7 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_tus | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_tus | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions | 8.1 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions | 8.2 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions | 8.4 |
| redhat | enterprise_linux_workstation | 7.0 |
| canonical | ubuntu_linux | 14.04 |
| canonical | ubuntu_linux | 16.04 |
| canonical | ubuntu_linux | 18.04 |
| canonical | ubuntu_linux | 20.04 |
| canonical | ubuntu_linux | 21.10 |
| suse | enterprise_storage | 7.0 |
Check a specific version with /api/v1/cve/match.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166196/Polkit-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166200/Polkit-pkexec-Privilege-Escalation.html
- https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/RHSB-2022-001
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2025869
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-330556.pdf
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/-/commit/a2bf5c9c83b6ae46cbd5c779d3055bff81ded683
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
- https://www.qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt
- https://www.secpod.com/blog/local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-major-linux-distributions-cve-2021-4034/
- https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20220818-0001/
- https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000020564
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166196/Polkit-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166200/Polkit-pkexec-Privilege-Escalation.html
- https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/RHSB-2022-001
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2025869
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-330556.pdf
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/-/commit/a2bf5c9c83b6ae46cbd5c779d3055bff81ded683
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
- https://www.qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt
- https://www.secpod.com/blog/local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-major-linux-distributions-cve-2021-4034/
- https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20220818-0001/
- https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000020564
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/pwnkit-pkexec-lpe-cve-2021-4034
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-4034
Query this programmatically:
curl https://evil-db.io/api/v1/cve/CVE-2021-4034