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Polkit

PRODUCT

· dossier confidence 20%

Polkit is a critical Linux authorization framework with a documented history of high-severity vulnerabilities, including active exploitation, requiring strict patching and authorization review protocols for DIB/CMMC compliance.

Failure events
2
Zero-days
0
RCEs
1
On KEV
2
Critical
0
Worst shame
72
PROFILE
Categorysecurity softwareWhat they doPolkit is a policy kit for Linux systems that provides a framework for managing system-wide privileges and authorization. Websitehttps://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/ ↗
SECURITY POSTURE

Polkit has a history of high-severity authorization and privilege escalation vulnerabilities, including active exploitation in the wild, indicating a need for rigorous patching and authorization review processes.

Notable failures
  • CVE-2021-3560: Incorrect Authorization RCE
  • CVE-2021-4034: Privilege Escalation actively exploited
Patterns: authorization logic flaws; privilege escalation via unpatched components
FAILURE HISTORY · 2
DATEEVENTSEVSUMMARY
2023-05-12 CVE-2021-3560 high Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability
2022-06-27 CVE-2021-4034 high A Red Hat Polkit vulnerability allowed privilege escalation, actively exploited in the wild, impacting systems relying on it for authorization.
DOSSIER SOURCES
Open questions: exact founding year and HQ location · current maintainer organization
DOSSIER · dex-RAG synthesis · grounded in our own collection + trusted sourcesbuilt 2026-09-03 03:59:27.075491+00:00