Major Linux PolicyKit security vulnerability uncovered: Pwnkit | ZDNet
www.zdnet.comA serious memory corruption vulnerability in polkit (formerly PolicyKit) has finally been discovered after 12+ years. This program is found in essentially all modern Linux distributions.
The most likely attack scenario is from an internal threat where a malicious user can escalate from no privileges whatsoever to full root privileges. From an external threat perspective, if an attacker has been able to gain foothold on a system via another vulnerability or a password breach, that attacker can then escalate to full root privileges through this vulnerability.
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There are some useful links on the reddit thread:
https://teddit.net/r/linux/comments/sct9ld/linux_system_service_bug_gives_root_on_all_major/
So ‘pkexec’ is basically ‘sudo’ but instead of depending on PAM it uses polikit for authentication and authorization. How many ‘sudo’ programs do we need in one Linux system? :D
Usable to crack Android phones ?
Only local, no risks from outside ?
The attack is highly efficient but entirely relies on the fact you need to get a foothold first on the system first.
I updated the OP with more infos.