CVE-2015-3256
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory...
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
4.6
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."
- Record
CVE-2015-3256- CVSS 2.0
- 4.6 Medium
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-264
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."
- Record
CVE-2015-3256- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2015-3309 No score
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."
- Record
EUVD-2015-3309- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-779g-mjcq-vffm No score
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory...
PolicyKit (aka polkit) before 0.113 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and polkitd daemon crash) and possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to "javascript rule evaluation."
- Record
GHSA-779g-mjcq-vffm- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2015-0262 No score
Updated polkit package fixes security vulnerabilities
Local privilege escalation in polkit before 0.113 due to predictable authentication session cookie values (CVE-2015-4625).
Various memory corruption vulnerabilities in polkit before 0.113 in the use of the JavaScript interpreter, possibly leading to local privilege escalation (CVE-2015-3256).
Memory corruption vulnerability in polkit before 0.113 in handling duplicate action IDs, possibly leading to local privilege escalation (CVE-2015-3255).
Denial of service issue in polkit before 0.113 which allowed any local user to crash polkitd (CVE-2015-3218).
- Record
MGASA-2015-0262- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10436-1 No score
libpolkit0-0.113-3.4 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the libpolkit0-0.113-3.4 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10436-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2015:1838-1 No score
Security update for polkit
polkit was updated to the 0.113 release, fixing security issues and bugs.
Security issues fixed:
- Fixes CVE-2015-4625, a local privilege escalation due to predictable authentication session cookie values. Thanks to Tavis Ormandy, Google Project Zero for reporting this issue. For the future, authentication agents are encouraged to use PolkitAgentSession instead of using the D-Bus agent response API directly. (bsc#935119)
- Fixes CVE-2015-3256, various memory corruption vulnerabilities in use of the JavaScript interpreter, possibly leading to local privilege escalation. (bsc#943816)
- Fixes CVE-2015-3255, a memory corruption vulnerability in handling duplicate action IDs, possibly leading to local privilege escalation. Thanks to Laurent Bigonville for reporting this issue. (bsc#939246)
- Fixes CVE-2015-3218, which allowed any local user to crash polkitd. Thanks to Tavis Ormandy, Google Project Zero, for reporting this issue. (bsc#933922)
Other issues fixed:
- On systemd-213 and later, the 'active' state is shared across all sessions of an user, instead of being tracked separately.
- pkexec, when not given a program to execute, runs the users shell by default.
- Fixed shutdown problems on powerpc64le (bsc#950114)
- polkit had a memory leak (bsc#912889)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2015:1838-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
polkitMageia:4 |
before 0.113-1.mga4 | 0.113-1.mga4 |
polkitMageia:5 |
before 0.113-1.mga5 | 0.113-1.mga5 |
polkitRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-debuginfoRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-develRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-docsRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkitRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-debuginfoRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-develRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-docsRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
Show 13 moreShow less
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
polkitRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-debuginfoRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-develRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-docsRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkitRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-debuginfoRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-develRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkit-docsRed Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation |
before 0:0.112-6.el7_2 | 0:0.112-6.el7_2 |
polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 |
before 0.113-4.1 | 0.113-4.1 |
polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 |
before 0.113-4.1 | 0.113-4.1 |
polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 |
before 0.113-4.1 | 0.113-4.1 |
polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 |
before 0.113-4.1 | 0.113-4.1 |
polkitSUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 12 |
before 0.113-4.1 | 0.113-4.1 |
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PoC in GitHub | puglia-ryan/S-V-Project-Implementation-of-CVE-2015-3256 | 2026-05-12 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV, PoC in GitHub |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2015-3256 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.6) in Polkit Project Polkit, published July 5, 2015. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.35%, the 29th percentile. Fixed in polkit 0.113-1.mga4.
References
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1245684
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0189.html
securityfocus.com/bid/77356
oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjan2016-2867209.html
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-11/msg00042.html
lists.freedesktop.org/archives/polkit-devel/2015-July/000432.html
Show 25 moreShow less
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-10/msg00010.html
securitytracker.com/id/1035023
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-3256
github.com/advisories/GHSA-779g-mjcq-vffm
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2015-0262.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16135
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:0189
access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification
security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/advisories/2016/rhsa-2016_0189.json
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3256
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-3256
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2015/suse-su-20151838-1
bugzilla.suse.com/912889
bugzilla.suse.com/933922
bugzilla.suse.com/935119
bugzilla.suse.com/939246
bugzilla.suse.com/943816
bugzilla.suse.com/950114
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3218
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3255
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-3256
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-4625
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2010-0750
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-1485
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4288