CVE-2014-5455 Privilege escalation in n/a

Medium 5.3 Published 25 Aug 2014 Updated 28 May 2026

Local attackers can gain privileges by placing a malicious executable in the system drive due to unquoted service paths in Windows VPN clients.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2014-5455?

CVE-2014-5455 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Aug 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Unquoted Windows search path vulnerability in the ptservice service prior to PrivateTunnel version 3.0 (Windows) and OpenVPN Connect version 3.1 (Windows) allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted program.exe file in the %SYSTEMDRIVE% folder.

Weakness: CWE-428

Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-5455?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Openvpn Openvpn, Privatetunnel Privatetunnel.

How do I fix CVE-2014-5455?

No fix has been published for CVE-2014-5455 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2014-5455 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2014-5455 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-mww5-q78w-ffpv.