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CVE-2021-4034

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 callin…

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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.
CVSS 7.8 (HIGH) KEV: KNOWN CATALOG

Attention and evidence

HYPE SCORE
0.0/10
REALITY · THREAT PRIORITY
8.6/10
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: 94.92%: +0.47

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

Sources: 11 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

Huntress
Press · 20 Feb 2025, 08:00 · CVE-2021-4034 Vulnerability - Huntress
Arctic Wolf
Press · 12 Nov 2022, 12:40 · Recommendations for CVE-2021-4034 - Arctic Wolf
www.trendmicro.com
Press · 11 Feb 2022, 08:00 · Detecting PwnKit (CVE-2021-4034) Using Trend Micro™ Vision One™ and Cloud One™ - www.trendmicro.com
www.trendmicro.com
Press · 11 Feb 2022, 08:00 · Detecting PwnKit (CVE-2021-4034) Using Trend Micro™ Vision One™ and Cloud One™ - www.trendmicro.com
Snyk
Press · 29 Jan 2022, 08:00 · Analyzing the PwnKit local privilege escalation exploit - Snyk
See all 11 source documents
SOC Prime
Press · 27 Jan 2022, 08:00 · Detect CVE-2021-4034: A Notorious PwnKit Vulnerability Affecting All Major Linux Distros - SOC Prime
Linuxiac
Press · 26 Jan 2022, 08:00 · A Polkit Vulnerability Gives Root on All Major Linux Distros - Linuxiac
The Hacker News
Press · 26 Jan 2022, 08:00 · 12-Year-Old Polkit Flaw Lets Unprivileged Linux Users Gain Root Access - The Hacker News
Qualys
Press · 26 Jan 2022, 08:00 · CVE-2021-4034: How PwnKit Exploits Polkit’s pkexec - Qualys
Ars Technica
Press · 25 Jan 2022, 08:00 · A bug lurking for 12 years gives attackers root on most major Linux distros - Ars Technica
BleepingComputer
Press · 25 Jan 2022, 08:00 · Linux system service bug gives root on all major distros, exploit released - BleepingComputer

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 8.6 (2026-11-02 15:12). The curve appears once the score changes.

Public exploit evidence

46

Public exploit entries / repo candidates

See 30 repos with metrics
RepositoryStarsForksLanguageUpdated
arthepsy/CVE-2021-40341,175313C04 May 2023, 19:24
dzonerzy/poc-cve-2021-403411432Go27 Jan 2022, 15:13
luijait/PwnKit-Exploit9818C07 Feb 2022, 15:42
nikaiw/CVE-2021-40345939Python26 Jan 2022, 02:27
knqyf263/CVE-2021-403464115JavaScript08 Sep 2021, 22:37
PeterGottesman/pwnkit-exploit386C28 Jan 2022, 00:38
donky16/CVE-2021-40346-POC327Python28 Sep 2021, 08:28
c3l3si4n/pwnkit241C26 Jan 2022, 20:17
kimusan/pkwner237Python27 Jan 2022, 10:40
chenaotian/CVE-2021-4034123C23 May 2022, 02:03
rvzsec/CVE-2021-403483Python19 Jul 2022, 12:52
navisec/CVE-2021-4034-PwnKit60Nim30 Jan 2022, 04:48
callrbx/pkexec-lpe-poc40C28 Jan 2022, 16:58
tahaafarooq/poppy41C20 Dec 2022, 09:03
Yakumwamba/POC-CVE-2021-403442C28 Jan 2022, 16:10
artemis-mike/cve-2021-403430C27 Apr 2024, 19:02
jayhutajulu1/PwnKit-CVE-2021-403420C20 May 2026, 09:10
locksec/CVE-2021-403420C19 Oct 2026, 19:30
0x01-sec/CVE-2021-4034-10C29 Jan 2022, 23:29
0xalwayslucky/log4j-polkit-poc12Dockerfile28 Jan 2022, 15:08
CYB3RK1D/CVE-2021-4034-POC10C05 Aug 2025, 20:59
fnknda/CVE-2021-4034_POC10C20 Feb 2022, 17:52
jcatala/f_poc_cve-2021-403410C30 Mar 2022, 21:12
jscamposx/hack10—05 Dec 2025, 20:06
LukeGix/CVE-2021-403410C26 Jan 2022, 12:28
NiS3x/CVE-2021-403413C27 Jan 2022, 08:40
0x4ndy/CVE-2021-4034-PoC01C26 Apr 2022, 14:34
HellGateCorp/pwnkit00—08 Aug 2022, 18:50
pyhrr0/pwnkit00C04 Jan 2023, 15:15
scent2d/PoC-CVE-2021-403400C01 Feb 2022, 12:37
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 94.9%
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 13:58:30.019134+00:00 · EPSS snapshot: 2026-11-05T12:03:04Z

Source event timeline
First press mention
25 Jan 2022, 08:00
Published
28 Jan 2022, 00:00
Added to the CISA KEV catalog
27 Jun 2022, 00:00
Latest press mention
20 Feb 2025, 08:00
Score calculated
05 Nov 2026, 13:58
PoCs on GitHub
46 repositories
Source: CVE List V5 · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS · GitHub · RSSVulnRadar