CVE-2013-4288 Race condition in n/a

High 7.2 Published 3 Oct 2013 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local attackers can exploit a race condition in PolicyKit to bypass authorization checks and gain elevated privileges.

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

What is CVE-2013-4288?

CVE-2013-4288 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 3 Oct 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Race condition in PolicyKit (aka polkit) allows local users to bypass intended PolicyKit restrictions and gain privileges by starting a setuid or pkexec process before the authorization check is performed, related to (1) the polkit_unix_process_new API function, (2) the dbus API, or (3) the --process (unix-process) option for authorization to pkcheck.

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-4288?

It affects 4 products.

Linux distribution packages (20)

`polkit` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-desktop-policy` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-docs` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-desktop-policy` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-docs` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-desktop-policy` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-docs` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-desktop-policy` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`
`polkit-docs` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.96-5.el6_4`

Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Opensuse Opensuse, Polkit Project Polkit, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

How do I fix CVE-2013-4288?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2013-4288 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4288 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2013-4288, GHSA-6wv7-fpg8-f44q, RHSA-2013:1270.