CVE-2013-4288

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.

Published: 2013-10-03 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2013-4288 is rated Low Risk (38.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.34%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2013-4288

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.06% 0.34% +0.29%
2 2026-06-05 0.05% 0.06% +0.01%
3 2026-03-09 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2013-4288

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2013-4288

OS Trackers for CVE-2013-4288

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2013-4288 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (policykit-1), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2013-4288
gentoo high CVE-2013-4288: 1 GLSA(s) (201406-27), 5 atom(s) (app-emulation/libvirt, net-misc/spice-gtk, net-print/hplip, sys-apps/systemd, sys-auth/polkit); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2013-4288
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4288
suse medium CVE-2013-4288 severity moderate: SUSE including 255 source package names (hplip-3.11.10-0.6.11.1, hplip-hpijs-3.11.10-0.6.11.1, …), 647 product×package rows across 67 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.5, … (67 product lines)): Known Not Affected 331, Fixed 316. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4288/
ubuntu medium CVE-2013-4288 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (policykit-1), 5 status rows across 5 suites (lucid, precise, quantal, raring, upstream): released 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2013-4288

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2013-4288

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
opensuse opensuse 12.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:12.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 12.3 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:12.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
polkit_project polkit < 0.112.1 cpe:2.3:a:polkit_project:polkit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 10.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:10.04:-:lts:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:-:lts:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 13.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:13.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2013-4288

URL Tags
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1002375 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00004.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00005.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-10/msg00062.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-11/msg00000.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1270.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1460.html Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2013/q3/626 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/09/18/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1953-1 Third Party Advisory
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