# CVE-2021-41388: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Netskope macOS client allows low-privileged users to execute code as root via insecure XPC service connections.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 4 Jan 2022
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7hpm-hh7x-5m56

## What is CVE-2021-41388?

CVE-2021-41388 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 4 Jan 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Netskope client prior to 89.x on macOS is impacted by a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The XPC implementation of nsAuxiliarySvc process does not perform validation on new connections before accepting the connection. Thus any low privileged user can connect and call external methods defined in XPC service as root, elevating their privilege to the highest level.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-41388?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Netskope Netskope.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-41388?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-41388 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-41388 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-41388 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-24576](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24576/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-7401](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-7401/): Client Enrollment Process Bypass (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2021-44862](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44862/): Sensitive Information store in NSClient logs (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2020-28845](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28845/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-12091](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12091/): Netskope client command injections vulnerability (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-41388 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-41388 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 4 Jan 2022. 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-2021-41388 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-2021-41388/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41388/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-41388
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-41388
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-41388

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41388/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.