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Parallels Desktop CVE-2024-6240

CRITICAL
Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269)
2024-06-21 cve-coordination@incibe.es
10.0
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 10.0 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity.
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

Improper privilege management vulnerability in Parallels Desktop Software, which affects versions earlier than 19.3.0. Rated critical severity (CVSS 10.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply principle of least privilege, validate privilege transitions, implement proper role separation.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269), which allows attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access. Improper privilege management vulnerability in Parallels Desktop Software, which affects versions earlier than 19.3.0. An attacker could add malicious code in a script and populate the BASH_ENV environment variable with the path to the malicious script, executing on application startup. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges on the system. Affected products include: Parallels Parallels Desktop.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 10.0 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

Improper privilege management vulnerability in Parallels Desktop Software, which affects versions earlier than 19.3.0. An attacker could add malicious code in a script and populate the BASH_ENV environment variable with the path to the malicious script, executing on application startup. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges on the system.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 76% exploitable
Data Quality
2 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

50
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +50
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:parallels:parallels_desktop:*:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*
CVE-2025-31359 HIGH POC
8.8 Jun 03

Directory traversal vulnerability in Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.2.2 (build 55879) affecting the PVMP package u

CVE-2024-54189 HIGH POC
7.8 Jun 03

Privilege escalation vulnerability in Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.1.1 (build 55740) where the snapshot function

CVE-2024-36486 HIGH POC
7.8 Jun 03

Privilege escalation vulnerability in Parallels Desktop for Mac 20.1.1 that allows a local attacker with user-level priv

CVE-2024-52561 HIGH POC
7.8 Jun 03

Privilege escalation vulnerability in Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.1.1 (build 55740) affecting the Snapshot dele

CVE-2022-34890 HIGH
8.8 Jul 18

This vulnerability allows local attackers to disclose sensitive information on affected installations of Parallels Deskt

CVE-2021-34864 HIGH
8.8 Oct 25

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.3 (

CVE-2021-34857 HIGH
8.8 Oct 25

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.3 (

CVE-2021-34856 HIGH
8.8 Oct 25

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.3 (

CVE-2021-31426 HIGH
8.8 Apr 29

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.2-4

CVE-2021-31425 HIGH
8.8 Apr 29

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.2-4

CVE-2021-31424 HIGH
8.8 Apr 29

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 15.1.5-4

CVE-2021-31420 HIGH
8.8 Apr 29

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop 16.1.0-4

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