Red Hat Polkit Out-of-Bounds Read and Write Vulnerability

Exploited · KEV 2022-06-27RansomwareMetasploit moduleCVE-2021-4034CWE-787

Exploited since 2022-06-27. No WAF vendor names it yet.

Edge rules

0/8

Our test

No exploit yet

CVSS

7.8

EPSS

94.9% Top 0.1%

Posts, 14d

Published

2022-01-28

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.

Edge coverage

Claimed by vendors

CloudflareBefore feed historyOlder than its feed AWSNo public claimNot named Microsoft AzureNo public claimNot named Google CloudBefore feed historyOlder than its feed FastlyBefore feed historyOlder than its feed F5Before feed historyOlder than its feed AkamaiNo public sourceNo public changelog OWASP CRSBefore feed historyOlder than its feed

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Ask about CVE-2021-4034: who's covered, what to patch first, how vendors compare. I cite sources and won't help with attacks.

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Severity, decoded

CVSS 3.1

7.8High

High · 7.8 / 10

Exploitable with local access, with low privileges and no user interaction, leading to full loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Needs local accessAny user loginNo user actionWorks reliablyFull compromise

How the score is built8 metrics

Attack vectorAn attacker needs local access, or must trick a user into opening something on the machine.
Local
Attack complexityNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Low
Privileges requiredThe attacker needs an ordinary user account.
Low
User interactionNo one has to click or open anything; the attack works on its own.
None
ScopeThe damage stays within the vulnerable component.
Unchanged
Confidentiality impactAn attacker can read all data the affected component holds, or the most sensitive parts of it.
High
Integrity impactAn attacker can change any data or files the affected component protects.
High
Availability impactAn attacker can take the component down completely or keep it from serving anyone.
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA's assessmentSSVC, from the CVE record

ExploitationActive

Attackers are exploiting this in the wild.

AutomatableNo

At least one step needs hands-on work, which slows mass attacks.

Technical impactTotal

A successful attack gives full control over the affected software or all of its data.

Public exploits

2 found

1 Metasploit1 Exploit-DB0 Scanner template0 GitHub PoCs

MetasploitLocal Privilege Escalation in polkits pkexec2022-01-25 · exploit · rank Excellent · has check
Exploit-DBPolicyKit-1 0.105-31 - Privilege Escalation2022-01-27 · local · linux

Links are to third-party code: never run it outside an isolated lab.

Timeline

2022-01-25
Metasploit module published
Local Privilege Escalation in polkits pkexec
2022-01-27
Exploit published on Exploit-DB
PolicyKit-1 0.105-31 - Privilege Escalation
2022-01-28
CVE published
CVE List
2022-06-27
Added to CISA KEV
Confirmed exploitation in the wild