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AEGLIX vulnerability intelligence

CVE-2021-4034

HIGH · CVSS 7.8 · Analyzed

Published: 2022-01-28 · Updated: 2026-08-15 · Source: NVD

Vulnerability overview

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.

Severity and scoring

CVSS score
7.8 · HIGH
CVSS version
3.1
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
CWE-125, CWE-787

CVSS measures technical severity; it does not establish whether this vulnerability is being exploited in your environment.

Known exploitation and remediation

Listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Affected product
Red Hat · Polkit
Added to catalog
2022-06-27
Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
CISA remediation due date
2022-07-18

CISA deadlines apply to the organizations covered by its directives. Confirm your own remediation requirements.

Verify affected versions and patch availability in the vendor advisory before making changes.

Affected products and versions

  • cpe:2.3:a:polkit_project:polkit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    Before (exclusive): 121

  • cpe:2.3:a:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus:8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computing:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:21.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:enterprise_storage:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:linux_enterprise_high_performance_computing:15.0:sp2:*:*:-:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:manager_proxy:4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:manager_server:4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:15:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:15:sp2:*:*:*:-:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:15:sp2:*:*:*:sap:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_workstation_extension:12:sp5:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:http_server:12.2.1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:http_server:12.2.1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:zfs_storage_appliance_kit:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinumerik_edge:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    Before (exclusive): 3.3.0

  • cpe:2.3:o:siemens:scalance_lpe9403_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    Before (exclusive): 2.0

  • cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:command_center:1.0:update3_build5871:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build14338:*:*:*:*:*:*

These are NVD CPE applicability entries. Some products depend on configuration conditions; consult the official record to confirm applicability.

Advisories and references

Explore official sources

Read the official NVD record ↗

Explore the CISA catalog ↗

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