polkit: Members of 'wheel' group allowed to become root without providing a password
Published Oct 1, 2012
6.9
MEDIUMCVSS 2.0
EPSS 0.35%
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.
Affected products
No data.
- 0.103
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
polkit
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | polkit | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
Not vulnerable. This issue did not affect the version of polkit as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as it did not include the upstream commit 763faf434b445c20ae9529100d3ef5290976d0c9 that introduced this issue.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (9 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 0.35% (0.00352) | 26.44th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.35% (0.00352) | 26.80th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.09% (0.00086) | 22.67th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.07th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.63th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.28% (0.01282) | 68.34th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 22, 2023 | 1.28% (0.01282) | 68.05th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.28% (0.01282) | 65.91th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.28% (0.01282) | 41.72th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (13)
- http://cgit.freedesktop.org/PolicyKit/commit/?id=763faf434b445c20ae9529100d3ef5290976d0c9 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/view/policykit-1/0.104-2/05_revert-admin-identities-unix-group-wheel.patch x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://secunia.com/advisories/48817 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIA
- http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201204-06.xml vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
- http://www.mail-archive.com/polkit-devel%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg00327.html mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/03/28/1 mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/03/28/2 mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-4945 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=401513 x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=807712 Issue Tracking
- https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/policykit-1/0.103-1 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4945
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-4945
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.