PrivateVPN 2.0.31 on macos com.privat.vpn.helper access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in PrivateVPN 2.0.31 on macos. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown part of the component com.privat.vpn.helper. Performing a manipulation results in access control. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2018-7716. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, was found in PrivateVPN 2.0.31 on macos. This affects an unknown code block of the component com.privat.vpn.helper. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-264. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

The bug was discovered 03/05/2018. The weakness was published 03/05/2018 (Website). The advisory is shared at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2018-7716 since 03/05/2018. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/10/2020). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Similar entry is available at VDB-114104. Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Name

• PrivateVPN

Version

• 2.0.31

CPE 2.3info

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• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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