CVE-2020-17398
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 disclose information on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 15.1.4. 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 prl_hypervisor kext. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of user-supplied data, which can result in a read past the end of an allocated buffer. An attacker can leverage this in conjunction with other vulnerabilities to execute arbitrary code in the context of the kernel. Was ZDI-CAN-11302.
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 confidenceOut-of-bounds read vulnerability in the prl_hypervisor kernel extension of Parallels Desktop 15.1.4. The flaw results from insufficient validation of user-supplied data, allowing a low-privileged attacker to read past the end of an allocated kernel buffer, potentially leaking sensitive kernel memory information that could be chained with other vulnerabilities for privilege escalation.
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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Verify Parallels Desktop is installedCheck for the presence of Parallels Desktop application either in /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app or via system_profiler SPApplicationsDataTypeAffected if If Parallels Desktop is not installed, this CVE does not apply
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Identify installed Parallels Desktop versionRun 'prlctl --version' from terminal, or right-click Parallels Desktop.app > Get Info to view the version numberAffected if A version number will be displayed (e.g., 15.1.4, 15.0.0, etc.)
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Compare version against affected rangeCompare your installed version to the affected range: any version less than 16.0.0 is affectedAffected if If the installed version is less than 16.0.0 (e.g., 15.1.4, 15.0.1, 14.x, etc.), the environment is vulnerable to this out-of-bounds read in the prl_hypervisor kernel extension
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Confirm kernel extension is loadedRun 'kextstat | grep -i parallels' to check if the prl_hypervisor kernel extension is currently loaded in memoryAffected if If the kernel extension is loaded alongside a version below 16.0.0, the vulnerability is present and exploitable given local code execution
If Parallels Desktop is installed with any version below 16.0.0 and the prl_hypervisor kernel extension is loaded, the environment is affected by CVE-2020-17398.
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 a version that addresses CVE-2020-17398. Since the attack requires low-privileged code execution first, minimize local attack surface and apply the vendor patch as soon as available.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-17398 — 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-2020-17398 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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