# CVE-2018-9105: Privilege escalation in n/a

> An attacker can exploit an unprotected XPC service in the NordVPN macOS helper tool to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vm9r-w2q2-4m5x

## What is CVE-2018-9105?

CVE-2018-9105 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Mar 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

NordVPN 3.3.10 for macOS suffers from a root privilege escalation vulnerability. The vulnerability stems from its privileged helper tool's implemented XPC service. This XPC service is responsible for receiving and processing new OpenVPN connection requests from the main application. Unfortunately this XPC service is not protected, which allows arbitrary applications to connect and send it XPC messages. An attacker can send a crafted XPC message to the privileged helper tool requesting it make a new OpenVPN connection. Because he or she controls the contents of the XPC message, the attacker can specify the location of the openvpn executable, which could point to something malicious they control located on disk. Without validation of the openvpn executable, this will give the attacker code execution in the context of the privileged helper tool.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-9105?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nordvpn Nordvpn.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-9105?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-9105 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-9105 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9105 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-10170](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10170/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-3952](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3952/): Command injection in NordVPN (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-25572](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-25572/): NordVPN 6.19.6 Denial of Service via Email Field Buffer Overflow (medium 6.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-9105 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-9105 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Mar 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9105 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-2018-9105/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-9105/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-9105
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-9105
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-9105

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-9105/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.