Privilege escalation via background service of OpenVPN Connect 3.5.1 through 3.8.1 on macOS allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands…

published 2026-05-26 5 mo ago modified 2026-07-23 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-31941

cvss: 7.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.6%; EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 47%
public exploits: 0; none known

Privilege escalation via background service of OpenVPN Connect 3.5.1 through 3.8.1 on macOS allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges via local IPC channel

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

openvpn connect 3.8.2

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 5 mo ago (2026-05-26)

Exploit prediction

0.57% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 47% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	9.4	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
CNA	4.0	8.9	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
CNA	4.0	9.4	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD	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

OpenVPN Inc OpenVPN Connect

Classification

Weakness

CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command
CWE-267 Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions
CWE-270 Privilege Context Switching Error
CWE-648 Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs

References

openvpn.net /connect-docs/macos-release-notes.html
release-notes

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-9560
NVD CVE-2026-9560

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