Search/CVE-2021-4034
● CVE — High

CVE-2021-4034

Vendorsuse, canonical, redhat, oracle, polkit projectProductlinux enterprise desktop, linux enterprise server, ubuntu linux, enterprise linux, enterprise linux eus, enterprise linux for ibm z systems, enterprise linux for ibm z systems eus, enterprise linux for power little endian, enterprise linux for power little endian eus, enterprise linux server, enterprise linux server aus, enterprise linux server tus, enterprise linux desktop, linux enterprise workstation extension, enterprise linux for power big endian, enterprise linux for scientific computing, enterprise linux server update services for sap solutions, enterprise linux workstation, enterprise linux server eus, http server, polkit, linux enterprise high performance computing, enterprise storage, manager proxy, manager serverDiscoveredJan 28, 2022UpdatedAug 15, 2026

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 v3.1
7.8 HIGH
EPSS
94.9%
probability of exploitation in 30 days
CISA KEV
Listed
confirmed active exploitation
News coverage
5
sources referencing this CVE
Related IOCs
seen in the same coverage
Timeline
disclosure → media coverage
Jan 28, 2022
Disclosure — published as a CVE record. · last revised by NVD Aug 15, 2026
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