Advisory Details

August 18th, 2020

Parallels Desktop prl_hypervisor Untrusted Pointer Dereference Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI-20-1010
ZDI-CAN-10519

CVE ID CVE-2020-17392
CVSS SCORE 8.8, AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
AFFECTED VENDORS Parallels
AFFECTED PRODUCTS Desktop
VULNERABILITY DETAILS

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 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.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS Parallels has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://kb.parallels.com/en/125013
DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
  • 2020-04-01 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2020-08-18 - Coordinated public release of advisory
  • 2021-03-02 - Advisory Updated
CREDIT Reno Robert of Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative
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