Live › vulnerability › CVE-2021-4034
Go to dashboardPolkit's pkexec utility has an out-of-bounds read and write bug that lets a local user gain root. An attacker with any local shell account gets administrative rights on the machine.
Summary written from the sources below. Check the originals before acting.
First seen by InfraStack 2026-10-23 19:11 UTC, 3h before NVD. All times on this page are UTC.
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
| Product | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Polkit | vendor | – | – |
| polkit project polkit | vendor | < 121 | 121 |
| redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions | vendor | = 7.6 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions | vendor | = 7.7 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux | vendor | = 8.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux desktop | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux eus | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for ibm z systems | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for ibm z systems | vendor | = 8.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for ibm z systems eus | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for ibm z systems eus | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power big endian | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power little endian | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power little endian | vendor | = 8.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power little endian eus | vendor | = 8.1 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power little endian eus | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for power little endian eus | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux for scientific computing | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server | vendor | = 6.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 7.3 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 7.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 7.6 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 7.7 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server aus | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server eus | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server tus | vendor | = 7.6 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server tus | vendor | = 7.7 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server tus | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server tus | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions | vendor | = 8.1 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions | vendor | = 8.2 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions | vendor | = 8.4 | – |
| redhat enterprise linux workstation | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
| canonical ubuntu linux | vendor | = 14.04 | – |
| canonical ubuntu linux | vendor | = 16.04 | – |
| canonical ubuntu linux | vendor | = 18.04 | – |
| canonical ubuntu linux | vendor | = 20.04 | – |
| canonical ubuntu linux | vendor | = 21.10 | – |
| suse enterprise storage | vendor | = 7.0 | – |
Unknown from the sources.
Apply the updates from the vendor (Red Hat, and the distributions polkit package) per CISAs required action; the sources do not name the fixed package version.
Each row is the first time that source carried this signal. The analyst’s rows are its own findings.
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.
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