CVE-2020-17392
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 · uneditedThis vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 15.1.3-47255. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handler for HOST_IOCTL_SET_KERNEL_SYMBOLS in the prl_hypervisor kext. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of a user-supplied value prior to dereferencing it as a pointer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute code in the context of the kernel. Was ZDI-CAN-10519.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation in Parallels Desktop's prl_hypervisor kernel extension. The HOST_IOCTL_SET_KERNEL_SYMBOLS handler lacks proper validation of user-supplied values before dereferencing them as pointers, allowing a low-privileged local attacker to execute code in kernel context.
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< 16.0.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Parallels Desktop is installedLook for Parallels Desktop application at /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app or check with ls -la /Applications/ | grep -i parallelsAffected if The application is not present, meaning Parallels Desktop is not installed and the system is not affected
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Identify the installed Parallels Desktop versionRun: defaults read /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleVersion or check /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Info.plist for the CFBundleVersion keyAffected if The version number returned is less than 16.0.0 (for example, 15.1.3, 15.0.0, etc.)
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Check if prl_hypervisor kernel extension is loadedRun: kextstat | grep -i prl_hypervisor or sudo kextstat | grep -i prl_hypervisor to list the loaded kernel extensionAffected if The prl_hypervisor kext appears in the output, indicating it is loaded and the vulnerable handler is accessible
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Confirm version against affected rangeCompare the version identified in step 2 against the affected range of versions prior to 16.0.0Affected if The installed version is below 16.0.0 and the prl_hypervisor kext is loaded, meaning the HOST_IOCTL_SET_KERNEL_SYMBOLS handler with the missing validation is active
A user is affected if Parallels Desktop is installed with a version below 16.0.0 and the prl_hypervisor kernel extension is loaded, exposing the vulnerable IOCTL handler.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data16.0.0
Update Parallels Desktop to version 15.1.4 or later which contains the patched kext; apply any available security updates from Parallels.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-17392 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-17392 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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