Parallels Desktop Updater Improper Initialization Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2024-05-03 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-31101

cvss: 7.8; version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.4%; EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 30%
public exploits: 0; none known

Parallels Desktop Updater 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 Updater 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-18253.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

parallels parallels_desktop 18.1.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-05-10)

Exploit prediction

0.36% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 30% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.0	7.8	CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA ADP	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Parallels Desktop
parallels parallels_desktop

Classification

Weakness

CWE-665 Improper Initialization

References

kb.parallels.com /125013
vendor-advisory
zerodayinitiative.com /advisories/ZDI-23-219/
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2023-27325
NVD CVE-2023-27325

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary