CVE-2021-3560

HIGHNVD 7.89.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-05-12), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 5 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
7.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS: 22%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

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 v3
7.8
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
81(Attend)
EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS
97.4%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

February 16, 2022

Last Modified

November 6, 2025

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Jun 3, 2026
⚠️ Active exploitation confirmed. Patch available. Sources: redhat, cisa.
cisa Patch Available🔴 Active Exploitation

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-3560
generic🟡 PoC Available

Privilege escalation with polkit: How to get root on Linux with a seven-year-old bug - The GitHub Blog

https://github.blog/2021-06-10-privilege-escalation-polkit-root-on-linux-with-bug/
redhat Patch Available

1961710 – (CVE-2021-3560) CVE-2021-3560 polkit: local privilege escalation using polkit_system_bus_name_get_creds_sync()

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 Extended Update Support

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1961710
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172846/Facebook-Fizz-Denial-Of-Service.html
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172836/polkit-Authentication-Bypass.html

Patch Availability(6)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibpolkit-agent-1-dev (0.105-30ubuntu0.1) @ hirsute2026-07-22ubuntu
redhatpolkit-0:0.115-11.el8_3.22021-07-06redhat
redhatredhat-virtualization-host-0:4.4.6-20210615.0.el8_42021-06-22redhat
redhatpolkit-0:0.115-11.el8_4.12021-06-03redhat
redhatpolkit-0:0.115-9.el8_1.12021-06-03redhat
redhatpolkit-0:0.115-11.el8_2.12021-06-03redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(7)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 100× in last 7d / 407× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 735 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-23 02:02 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-22 21:49 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 21:49 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-07-22 21:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-07-22 19:40 UTCCISA KEV update
  6. 2026-07-22 17:38 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-22 17:38 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-07-22 17:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-22 13:28 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-22 13:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-22 09:19 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-07-22 09:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-07-22 05:10 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-07-22 05:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-07-22 01:00 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-07-22 01:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-07-21 20:52 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-07-21 20:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-07-21 16:43 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-07-21 16:43 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-07-21 16:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-21 14:37 UTCCISA KEV update
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-07-21 12:34 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-07-21 12:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-07-21 08:24 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-07-21 08:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-07-21 04:15 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-07-21 04:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-07-21 00:05 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-07-21 00:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-20 19:56 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-07-20 19:56 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-20 19:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-20 17:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-20 15:48 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-07-20 15:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-07-20 11:38 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-07-20 11:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-07-20 07:29 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-07-20 07:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-07-20 03:20 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-07-20 03:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-19 23:10 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-07-19 23:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-07-19 19:01 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-07-19 19:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-07-19 14:52 UTCEG score recompute
  26. 2026-07-19 14:52 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-07-19 14:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-19 10:44 UTCVendor advisory
  30. 2026-07-19 10:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  31. 2026-07-19 06:35 UTCEG score recompute
  32. 2026-07-19 06:35 UTCVendor advisory
  33. 2026-07-19 06:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-07-19 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCVendor advisory
  36. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  37. 2026-07-18 22:17 UTCVendor advisory
  38. 2026-07-18 22:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  39. 2026-07-18 18:07 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-07-18 18:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-07-18 13:58 UTCEG score recompute
  42. 2026-07-18 13:58 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-07-18 13:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-18 09:49 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-07-18 09:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-07-18 05:39 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-07-18 05:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-07-18 01:30 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-07-18 01:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-07-17 21:21 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-07-17 21:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  54. 2026-07-17 17:12 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-07-17 17:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  56. 2026-07-17 13:01 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-07-17 13:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  58. 2026-07-17 08:51 UTCEG score recompute
  59. 2026-07-17 08:51 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-07-17 08:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  61. 2026-07-17 04:42 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-07-17 04:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-07-17 00:33 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-07-17 00:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-07-16 20:24 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-07-16 20:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-07-16 17:04 UTCCISA KEV update
  68. 2026-07-16 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-07-16 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-07-16 16:15 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-07-16 16:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  72. 2026-07-16 12:06 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-07-16 12:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  74. 2026-07-16 07:57 UTCVendor advisory
  75. 2026-07-16 07:57 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(10 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (9 GitHub PoCs) (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCUNICORDev/exploit-CVE-2021-3560
    First seen May 2, 2022

    Exploit for CVE-2021-3560 (Polkit) - Local Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCwinmin/CVE-2021-3560
    First seen Apr 30, 2022

    PolicyKit CVE-2021-3560 Exploitation (Authentication Agent)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCRicterZ/CVE-2021-3560-Authentication-Agent
    First seen Apr 29, 2022

    PolicyKit CVE-2021-3560 Exploit (Authentication Agent)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCchenaotian/CVE-2021-3560
    First seen Jan 31, 2022

    CVE-2021-3560 analysis

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoC0dayNinja/CVE-2021-3560
    First seen Jul 30, 2021

    Polkit D-Bus Authentication Bypass Exploit

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCAssassinUKG/Polkit-CVE-2021-3560
    First seen Jun 29, 2021
    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCAlmorabea/Polkit-exploit
    First seen Jun 19, 2021

    Privilege escalation with polkit - CVE-2021-3560

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-50011✓ verified
    First seen Jun 15, 2021

    Polkit 0.105-26 0.117-2 - Local Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCsecnigma/CVE-2021-3560-Polkit-Privilege-Esclation
    First seen Jun 14, 2021
    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoChakivvi/CVE-2021-3560
    First seen Jun 12, 2021

    a reliable C based exploit and writeup for CVE-2021-3560.

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2021-3560?
CVE-2021-3560 is a high vulnerability published on February 16, 2022. 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…
When was CVE-2021-3560 disclosed?
CVE-2021-3560 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 16, 2022, with the most recent update on November 6, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-3560 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2021-3560 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 12, 2023, affecting Red Hat Polkit. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-3560?
CVE-2021-3560 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
Which products are affected by CVE-2021-3560?
CVE-2021-3560 affects Red Hat Polkit. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2021-3560?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-3560, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2021-3560

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-3560?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs