Is CVE-2021-4034 actively exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks CVE-2021-4034 as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

What exploitation activity has KEV Intelligence observed?

KEV Intelligence has not yet recorded sensor-observed exploitation attempts for CVE-2021-4034. Our sensors continue to monitor for activity targeting this CVE.

Which versions are affected?

CVE-2021-4034 affects freedesktop.org polkit. Reported affected version: all.

Yes. CVE-2021-4034 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2021-4034

polkit Privilege Escalation

freedesktop.org / polkit · all

View live feed Monitor via API Watch CVE

Severity: CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence: Confirmed
Exploit status: Exploited in the wild
EPSS: 94.9%
First observed: —
Last observed: —

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2021-4034 is a vulnerability affecting freedesktop.org polkit. A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found on polkit's pkexec utility. The pkexec application is a setuid tool designed to allow...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

freedesktop.org / polkit all.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found on polkit's pkexec utility

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.

Vendor Product Affected Status

n/a polkit all Affected

Published: 28 Jan 2022
Exploitation Reported: 27 Jun 2022
Attack vector: Local
Complexity: Low
Privileges: Low
User interaction: None

CVE References

CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-4034
access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/RHSB-2022-001 access.redhat.com · CVE Record https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/RHSB-2022-001
qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt qualys.com · CVE Record https://www.qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi bugzilla.redhat.com · CVE Record https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2025869
gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/-/commit/a2bf5c9c83b6ae46cbd5c... gitlab.freedesktop.org · CVE Record https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/-/commit/a2bf5c9c83b6ae4...
oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html oracle.com · CVE Record https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
packetstormsecurity.com/files/166196/Polkit-pkexec-Local-Privilege-E... packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166196/Polkit-pkexec-Local-Privi...
packetstormsecurity.com/files/166200/Polkit-pkexec-Privilege-Escalat... packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166200/Polkit-pkexec-Privilege-E...
suse.com/support/kb/doc suse.com · CVE Record https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000020564
cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-330556.pdf cert-portal.siemens.com · CVE Record https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-330556.pdf
starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20220818-0001 starwindsoftware.com · CVE Record https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20220818-0001/
secpod.com/blog/local-privilege-escalation-vulnerabilit... secpod.com · CVE Record https://www.secpod.com/blog/local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-...

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 27 Jun 2022

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 25 Jan 2022

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access

Source	Added
CISA First	2022-06-27 00:00 UTC
CVE	2026-08-15 04:10 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets: 0
User-Agents: 0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

Metasploit template detected 28 Apr 2025.

View Metasploit template

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner	Reference	Detected
Metasploit	https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/local/cve_2021_4034_pwnkit_lpe_pkexec.rb	28 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.8 High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

94.9%

Weaknesses

Out-of-bounds Write CWE-787

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 7.8 High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 7.2 High

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Rvn0xsy/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-28 15:13:28 UTC · 97 stars · AI assessment 90%

CVE-2021-4034 Add Root User - Pkexec Local Privilege Escalation

EstamelGG/CVE-2021-4034-NoGCC

github · Created 2022-01-28 02:54:38 UTC · 79 stars · AI assessment 90%

CVE-2021-4034简单优化，以应对没有安装gcc和make的目标环境

c3c/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-27 17:43:24 UTC · 25 stars · AI assessment 85%

Pre-compiled builds for CVE-2021-4034

PwnFunction/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-27 14:43:57 UTC · 344 stars · AI assessment 90%

Proof of concept for pwnkit vulnerability

joeammond/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-26 17:53:16 UTC · 165 stars · AI assessment 90%

Python exploit code for CVE-2021-4034 (pwnkit)

zhzyker/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-26 07:19:21 UTC · 45 stars · AI assessment 90%

polkit pkexec Local Privilege Vulnerability to Add custom commands

Ayrx/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-26 03:33:47 UTC · 93 stars · AI assessment 90%

Exploit for CVE-2021-4034

nikaiw/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-26 02:02:25 UTC · 62 stars · AI assessment 90%

PoC for CVE-2021-4034

arthepsy/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-26 00:56:36 UTC · 1078 stars · AI assessment 90%

PoC for PwnKit: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in polkit’s pkexec (CVE-2021-4034)

berdav/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-25 23:51:37 UTC · 1990 stars · AI assessment 90%

CVE-2021-4034 1day

ryaagard/CVE-2021-4034

github · Created 2022-01-25 23:11:30 UTC · 72 stars · AI assessment 90%

Local Privilege Escalation in polkit's pkexec

cve_2021_4034_pwnkit_lpe_pkexec

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2021-4034

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

15 Aug 2026
KEV confirmed by CVE

Exploitation attested by an external source
28 Apr 2025
Metasploit module available

Exploit module available
27 Jun 2022
Added to CISA KEV

Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
28 Jan 2022
CVE published

Vulnerability disclosed publicly
25 Jan 2022
Public PoC available

Public proof-of-concept code published
29 Nov 2021
CVE ID reserved

Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

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Evidence confidence and provenance
First-party sensor telemetry
PoC and scanner references
Affected versions and enrichment
Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2021-4034

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields

{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2021-4034",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.94921,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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