CVE-2021-3560
Exploited in the wild. In CISA KEV since 2023‑05‑12. A vendor fix is available.
What to do
The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.
What it is
From the CVE record
It was found that polkit could be tricked into bypassing the credential checks for D-Bus requests, elevating the privileges of the requestor to the root user. This flaw could be used by an unprivileged local attacker to, for example, create a new local administrator. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Listed as exploited in the wild since 2023-05-12.
US federal agencies must remediate by 2023-06-02.
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Public exploits
3 sources with a proof of concept or module.
Exploit links, PoCs and Metasploit modules after sign-in- EPSS
24% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 98th percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
The patch came 120 days before any public exploit.
- OpenVAS check added
- EPSS band changelow → moderate
- EPSS band changemoderate → low
- EPSS band changelow → moderate
- EPSS band changemoderate → low
- Public exploit / PoCsource: packetstorm
Affected products
And 3 more affected products. See all after sign-in
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Scored 7.8 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector LocalRequires local access to the vulnerable system (e.g. local login, malicious file)
- Attack Complexity LowNo special conditions — the attack can be reliably reproduced
- Privileges Required LowRequires basic user-level privileges
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality HighTotal information disclosure — all data in the component is compromised
- Integrity HighTotal loss of integrity — attacker can modify any data in the component
- Availability HighTotal denial of service — the component is completely unavailable
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
Sources
Watch the software you run.
My Stack ranks new CVEs for your products by real-world exploitation, so the next exploited one reaches you without reading every advisory.
We'll flag the next CVE, public exploit or patch for Virtualization, not every advisory. This one: actively exploited.
A free account adds
- The full version matrix and every affected product
- Exploit links, proofs of concept and Metasploit modules
- Email alerts for the products you watch
- The same data over REST API, MCP and CLI