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CVE-2021-4034

HIGHCISA KEV
7.8

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.

CVE Details

CVSS v3.1 Score7.8
SeverityHIGH
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack VectorLOCAL
ComplexityLOW
Privileges RequiredLOW
User InteractionNONE
Published1/28/2022
Last Modified11/6/2025
Sourcekev
Honeypot Sightings0

CISA KEV

VendorRed Hat
ProductPolkit
Vulnerability NameRed Hat Polkit Out-of-Bounds Read and Write Vulnerability
KEV Date Added2022-06-27
Remediation Due Date2022-07-18
Ransomware UseUnknown

Affected Products

canonical:ubuntu_linuxoracle:http_serveroracle:zfs_storage_appliance_kitpolkit_project:polkitredhat:enterprise_linuxredhat:enterprise_linux_desktopredhat:enterprise_linux_eusredhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systemsredhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eusredhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endianredhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endianredhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eusredhat:enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computingredhat:enterprise_linux_serverredhat:enterprise_linux_server_ausredhat:enterprise_linux_server_eusredhat:enterprise_linux_server_tusredhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutionsredhat:enterprise_linux_workstationsiemens:scalance_lpe9403siemens:scalance_lpe9403_firmwaresiemens:sinumerik_edgestarwindsoftware:command_centerstarwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_sansuse:enterprise_storagesuse:linux_enterprise_desktopsuse:linux_enterprise_high_performance_computingsuse:linux_enterprise_serversuse:linux_enterprise_workstation_extensionsuse:manager_proxysuse:manager_server

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-787CWE-125CWE-787

References

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2025869(af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html(af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000020564(af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

IOC Correlations

No correlations recorded

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