# CVE-2011-4945: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local users in the wheel group can gain root privileges without authentication due to default PolicyKit configuration.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2012
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2011-4945, GHSA-7wrh-wgmh-6x48

## What is CVE-2011-4945?

CVE-2011-4945 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

PolicyKit 0.103 sets the AdminIdentities to "wheel" by default, which allows local users in the wheel group to gain root privileges without authentication.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4945?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Michael Biebl Policykit.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-4945?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2011-4945 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4945 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-4945 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-4945 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4945 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4945/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4945/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-4945
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4945
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-4945

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4945/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.