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CVE-2021-3560

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 …

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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.
CVSS 7.8 (HIGH) KEV: KNOWN CATALOG

Attention and evidence

HYPE SCORE
0.0/10
REALITY · THREAT PRIORITY
8.3/10
General review priority; not probability

Evidence confidence: Exploitation recorded

Why this priority?
  • Recorded exploitation baseline: +7.00
  • Technical severity: CVSS 7.8: +1.17
  • Fresh EPSS: 23.71%: +0.12

General review priority, not probability, victim count or asset-specific risk. A range covers missing CVSS/EPSS inputs within the current evidence state.

Sources: 8 documents and public datasets.

Hype components

Headline sample (25%)
0/100
Press, 30 days (60%)
0/100
Grounded branding (15%)
0/100
HYPE TOTAL0/100

Sources and documents

The GitHub Blog
Press · 21 Sep 2023, 07:00 · The GitHub Security Lab’s journey to disclosing 500 CVEs in open source projects - The GitHub Blog
The Hacker News
Press · 26 Jan 2022, 08:00 · 12-Year-Old Polkit Flaw Lets Unprivileged Linux Users Gain Root Access - The Hacker News
Ars Technica
Press · 25 Jan 2022, 08:00 · A bug lurking for 12 years gives attackers root on most major Linux distros - Ars Technica
Kaspersky
Press · 17 Aug 2021, 07:00 · How and why to protect Linux - Kaspersky
Rapid7
Press · 16 Jul 2021, 07:00 · Metasploit Wrap-Up: July 16, 2021 - Rapid7
See all 8 source documents
SOC Prime
Press · 17 Jun 2021, 07:00 · High Severity Bug in Linux Enables Privilege Escalation to Root - SOC Prime
The Hacker News
Press · 11 Jun 2021, 07:00 · 7-Year-Old Polkit Flaw Lets Unprivileged Linux Users Gain Root Access - The Hacker News
The GitHub Blog
Press · 10 Jun 2021, 07:00 · Privilege escalation with polkit: How to get root on Linux with a seven-year-old bug - The GitHub Blog

Score evolution

● Hype   ● Reality

Earlier evidence-support scores are retained in history; this chart shows only the current priority definition.

First record: hype 0.0 · reality 8.3 (2026-11-02 15:12). The curve appears once the score changes.

Public exploit evidence

8

Public exploit entries / repo candidates

See 8 repos with metrics
RepositoryStarsForksLanguageUpdated
swapravo/polkadots8212Shell12 Jun 2021, 17:48
f4T1H21/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-DBus80Shell13 Feb 2022, 11:16
aancw/polkit-auto-exploit50Go24 Aug 2021, 04:51
Gerberayale521/pwnkit21—14 Oct 2026, 07:20
LucasPDiniz/CVE-2021-356021—30 Jun 2024, 22:01
AntorDOS/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-Privesc-Exploit00Shell26 Oct 2026, 18:52
iSTAR-Lab/CVE-2021-3560_PoC00Shell14 Jun 2021, 18:06
WithinOneStem/POC-Bash-CVE-2021-356000Shell08 Jul 2025, 08:43
Public exploit evidence
Evidence context and dated references

Reality is general threat/review priority, combining observed exploitation, CVSS severity and fresh EPSS. Evidence confidence is separate. This is not calibrated risk, a victim count or an asset-specific assessment. A range reflects missing numeric inputs.

Evidence in context

Confidence in exploitation evidence
Exploitation recorded
Priority basis
Recorded exploitation; CVSS 7.8; EPSS 23.7%
Attention, last 30 days
0 distinct story titles; 0 press documents; 0 publisher domains.
Technical potential
local access, low privileges, no user interaction.
Observed activity
Exploitation recorded in CISA KEV.
Known scale
Not quantified.
Evidence confidence basis
Trusted exploitation confirmation

Score evaluated: 2026-11-05 13:58:28.999775+00:00 · EPSS snapshot: 2026-11-05T12:03:04Z

Source event timeline
First press mention
10 Jun 2021, 07:00
Published
16 Feb 2022, 00:00
Added to the CISA KEV catalog
12 May 2023, 00:00
Latest press mention
21 Sep 2023, 07:00
Score calculated
05 Nov 2026, 13:58
PoCs on GitHub
8 repositories