Race condition in Freedesktop PolicyKit

1) Race condition

EUVDB-ID: #VU45010

Risk: High

CVSSv3.1: 8.2 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2011-1485

CWE-ID: CWE-362 - Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Race condition in the pkexec utility and polkitd daemon in PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.96 allows local users to gain privileges by executing a setuid program from pkexec, related to the use of the effective user ID instead of the real user ID.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

PolicyKit: 0.96

External links

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2011-April/058752.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2011-May/059859.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/48817
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201204-06.xml
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/8424
http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2319
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2011:086
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0455.html
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1117-1
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=692922

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, a fully functional exploit for this vulnerability is available.