CVE-2024-36486 Privilege escalation in Parallels Desktop for Mac
An attacker can escalate privileges by exploiting a hard link vulnerability in the virtual machine archive restoration process of Parallels Desktop for Mac.
- 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-2024-36486?
CVE-2024-36486 is a high-severity vulnerability in Parallels Parallels Desktop, published on 3 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the virtual machine archive restoration functionality of Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.1.1 (55740). When an archived virtual machine is restored, the prl_vmarchiver tool decompresses the file and writes the content back to its original location using root privileges. An attacker can exploit this process by using a hard link to write to an arbitrary file, potentially resulting in privilege escalation.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-36486?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Parallels Parallels Desktop.
How do I fix CVE-2024-36486?
No fix has been published for CVE-2024-36486 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2024-36486 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-36486 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in Parallels Parallels Desktop
Sources
Also known as GHSA-w3cx-68mp-rwcw.