dbcve.org
PrivatevpnApplication

CVE-2018-7311

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-02-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
PrivateVPN 2.0.31 for macOS suffers from a root privilege escalation vulnerability. The software installs a privileged helper tool that runs as the root user. This privileged helper tool is installed as a LaunchDaemon and implements an XPC service. The XPC service is responsible for handling new VPN connection operations via the main PrivateVPN application. The privileged helper tool creates new VPN connections by executing the openvpn binary located in the /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources directory. The openvpn binary can be overwritten by the default user, which allows an attacker that has already installed malicious software as the default user to replace the binary. When a new VPN connection is established, the privileged helper tool will launch this malicious binary, thus allowing an attacker to execute code as the root user. NOTE: the vendor has reportedly indicated that this behavior is "an acceptable part of their software.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

PrivateVPN 2.0.31 for macOS installs a privileged helper tool (LaunchDaemon) that runs an XPC service as root. This XPC service executes an openvpn binary from a user-writable directory (/Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources/). An attacker with local user access can replace this binary with malicious code, which will be executed as root when any VPN connection is initiated.

MitigationThe privileged helper tool must validate the integrity of the openvpn binary (e.g., via code signing verification) before execution, or the binary must be moved to a root-owned, non-writable location.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
PrivatevpnApplication
Affected:= 2.0.31

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify PrivateVPN version
    Check the installed version by running: mdls -name CFBundleVersion /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/ or inspect /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Info.plist for CFBundleVersion
    Affected if The installed version equals 2.0.31
  2. Locate openvpn binary in vulnerable path
    Check if /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources/openvpn exists by running: ls -la /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources/
    Affected if An openvpn binary exists at /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources/openvpn
  3. Verify Resources directory permissions
    Check if the Resources directory is user-writable by running: ls -la /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/ | grep Resources
    Affected if The Resources directory is owned by a non-root user or is world-writable
  4. Check for privileged helper tool
    Look for a LaunchDaemon plist file in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ related to PrivateVPN by running: ls -la /Library/LaunchDaemons/ | grep -i privatevpn
    Affected if A privileged helper daemon for PrivateVPN is installed in /Library/LaunchDaemons/

All four conditions must be true for the system to be affected: PrivateVPN version 2.0.31 is installed, the openvpn binary exists in the user-writable /Applications/PrivateVPN.app/Contents/Resources/ directory, that directory is writable by non-root users, and the privileged helper tool is installed.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

The privileged helper tool must validate the integrity of the openvpn binary (e.g., via code signing verification) before execution, or the binary must be moved to a root-owned, non-writable location.

Fix this in Privatevpn Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,180
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-7311 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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