<s>
Polkit	B-Language
(	O
formerly	O
PolicyKit	B-Language
)	O
is	O
a	O
component	O
for	O
controlling	O
system-wide	O
privileges	O
in	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Polkit	B-Language
allows	O
a	O
level	O
of	O
control	O
of	O
centralized	O
system	O
policy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
developed	O
and	O
maintained	O
by	O
David	O
Zeuthen	O
from	O
Red	O
Hat	O
and	O
hosted	O
by	O
the	O
freedesktop.org	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
published	O
as	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
version	O
2	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Lesser	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
License	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
version	O
0.105	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
April	O
2012	O
,	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
changed	O
from	O
PolicyKit	B-Language
to	O
polkit	B-Language
to	O
emphasize	O
that	O
the	O
system	O
component	O
was	O
rewritten	O
and	O
that	O
the	O
API	B-Application
had	O
changed	O
,	O
breaking	O
backward	B-General_Concept
compatibility	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fedora	O
became	O
the	O
first	O
distribution	B-Application
to	O
include	O
PolicyKit	B-Language
,	O
and	O
it	O
has	O
since	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
other	O
distributions	O
,	O
including	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
since	O
version	O
8.04	O
and	O
openSUSE	B-Operating_System
since	O
version	O
10.3	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
distributions	O
,	O
like	O
Fedora	O
,	O
have	O
already	O
switched	O
to	O
the	O
rewritten	O
polkit	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
also	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
polkit	B-Language
to	O
execute	O
commands	O
with	O
elevated	O
privileges	O
using	O
the	O
command	O
pkexec	B-Language
followed	O
by	O
the	O
command	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
executed	O
(	O
with	O
root	B-Application
permission	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
it	O
may	O
be	O
preferable	O
to	O
use	O
sudo	B-Device
,	O
as	O
this	O
command	O
provides	O
more	O
flexibility	O
and	O
security	O
,	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
being	O
easier	O
to	O
configure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
polkitd	B-Language
daemon	B-Operating_System
implements	O
Polkit	B-Language
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
memory	O
corruption	O
vulnerability	O
PwnKit	O
(	O
CVE-2021-4034	O
)	O
discovered	O
in	O
the	O
pkexec	B-Language
command	O
(	O
installed	O
on	O
all	O
major	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
)	O
was	O
announced	O
on	O
January	O
25	O
,	O
2022	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
vulnerability	O
dates	O
back	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
distribution	B-Application
from	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
vulnerability	O
received	O
a	O
CVSS	O
score	O
of	O
7.8	O
(	O
"	O
High	O
severity	O
"	O
)	O
reflecting	O
serious	O
factors	O
involved	O
in	O
a	O
possible	O
exploit	O
:	O
unprivileged	O
users	O
can	O
gain	O
full	O
root	B-Application
privileges	I-Application
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
underlying	O
machine	O
architecture	O
or	O
whether	O
the	O
polkit	B-Language
daemon	B-Operating_System
is	O
running	O
or	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
