PrivateVPN 2.0.31 for macOS suffers from a root privilege escalation vulnerability with its com.privat.vpn.helper privileged helper tool
Published Mar 5, 2018
9.8
CRITICALCVSS 3.0
EPSS 2.33%
Description
PrivateVPN 2.0.31 for macOS suffers from a root privilege escalation vulnerability with its com.privat.vpn.helper privileged helper tool. This privileged helper tool implements an XPC service that allows arbitrary installed applications to connect and send messages. The XPC service extracts the config string from the corresponding XPC message. This string is supposed to point to an internal OpenVPN configuration file. If a new connection has not already been established, an attacker can send the XPC service a malicious XPC message with the config string pointing at an OpenVPN configuration file that he or she controls. In the configuration file, an attacker can specify a dynamic library plugin that should run for every new VPN connection. This plugin will execute code in the context of the root user.
Affected products
No data.
- 2.0.31
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV:N/AC:L/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
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v5
Table of values (17 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 2.33% (0.02331) | 82.92th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 2.41% (0.02413) | 81.92th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jul 20, 2024 | 0.26% (0.00261) | 66.21th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Apr 25, 2024 | 0.26% (0.00261) | 65.43th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 15, 2024 | 0.28% (0.00280) | 67.67th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 8, 2024 | 0.25% (0.00249) | 63.87th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.36% (0.00360) | 67.78th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.30% (0.01298) | 68.38th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Jan 29, 2023 | 1.30% (0.01298) | 67.75th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Nov 30, 2022 | 1.19% (0.01190) | 60.96th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Sep 17, 2022 | 1.09% (0.01086) | 51.85th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.09% (0.01086) | 49.83th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.09% (0.01086) | 28.42th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 0.73% (0.00731) | 20.40th | v1 |
| Jan 6, 2022 | 0.73% (0.00731) | 19.82th | v1 |
| Sep 1, 2021 | 0.73% (0.00731) | 49.19th | v1 |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 0.73% (0.00731) | 0.00th | v1 |
No CWE recorded.
References (1)
- https://github.com/VerSprite/research/edit/master/advisories/VS-2018-006.md x_refsource_MISCThird Party Advisory
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://github.com/VerSprite/research/edit/master/advisories/VS-2018-006.md | x_refsource_MISCThird Party Advisory |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.