# CVE-2018-18860: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can execute arbitrary binaries as root on macOS due to over-permissive settings and a SUID binary in the SwitchVPN client.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2cj6-g7fv-hq3m

## What is CVE-2018-18860?

CVE-2018-18860 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 30 Nov 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in the SwitchVPN client 2.1012.03 for macOS. Due to over-permissive configuration settings and a SUID binary, an attacker is able to execute arbitrary binaries as root.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-18860?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Switchvpn Switchvpn.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-18860?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-18860 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-18860 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18860 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- SwitchVPN for macOS 2.1012.03 - Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-18860 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-18860 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 30 Nov 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18860 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18860/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18860/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-18860
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-18860
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-18860

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18860/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.