# CVE-2019-12576: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can escalate privileges to root by exploiting a relative path vulnerability in the setuid openvpn_launcher binary of the PIA VPN 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:** 11 Jul 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xm9h-q2f5-rq5x

## What is CVE-2019-12576?

CVE-2019-12576 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Jul 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for macOS could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The openvpn_launcher binary is setuid root. This program is called during the connection process and executes several operating system utilities to configure the system. The networksetup utility is called using relative paths. A local unprivileged user can execute arbitrary commands as root by creating a networksetup trojan which will be executed during the connection process. This is possible because the PATH environment variable is not reset prior to executing the OS utility.

Weakness: CWE-426 (Untrusted Search Path)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-12576?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Londontrustmedia Private Internet Access Vpn Client.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-12576?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-12576 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-12576 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-12576 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2019-12574](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12574/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-12575](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12575/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-12577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12577/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-12578](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12578/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-12579](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12579/): Command injection in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-12576 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-12576 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Jul 2019. 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-2019-12576 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-2019-12576/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12576/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-12576
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-12576
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-12576

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12576/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.