How severe is CVE-2021-3560?

CVE-2021-3560 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-3560?

Affected package information for CVE-2021-3560 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2021-3560?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2021-3560 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2021-3560 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 31 known exploit references for CVE-2021-3560, including 2 documented proof-of-concept exploits on Exploit-DB and 18 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-3560?

CVE-2021-3560 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 9.1%, placing it in the 93th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

Is CVE-2021-3560 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2021-3560 (Red Hat Polkit Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2023-05-12. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2023-06-02. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

When was CVE-2021-3560 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-3560 was published on February 16, 2022 and was last updated on April 16, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2021-3560: high severity vulnerability (CVSS 7.8)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

9.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk93th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-3560 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2021-3560 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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