What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-27322: Parallels Desktop Service Improper Initialization Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.0)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2024-05-03 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-665

Description

Parallels Desktop Service Improper Initialization Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target host system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Parallels Service. The issue results from the lack of proper initialization of environment variables. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-17751.

Affected products

• Parallels Desktop: before 18.1.0_\(53311\) — fixed in 18.1.0_\(53311\)

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Parallels Desktop 18.1.0_\(53311\). Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://kb.parallels.com/125013
• https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-23-216/
• https://kb.parallels.com/125013
• https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-23-216/

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