USN-4980-1: polkit vulnerability

3 June 2021

The system could be made to run programs as an administrator.

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Releases

Packages

  • policykit-1 - framework for managing administrative policies and privileges

Details

Kevin Backhouse discovered that polkit incorrectly handled errors in the
polkit_system_bus_name_get_creds_sync function. A local attacker could
possibly use this issue to escalate privileges.

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Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

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Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 21.04
Ubuntu 20.10
Ubuntu 20.04

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.

References

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Further reading