# CVE-2024-4877: Privilege escalation in OpenVPN

> A local attacker can escalate privileges by creating a named pipe that the OpenVPN GUI connects to, allowing unauthorized access to higher privileges.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 3 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 4 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c26r-vw7p-2m7h

## What is CVE-2024-4877?

CVE-2024-4877 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenVPN, published on 3 Apr 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

OpenVPN version 2.4.0 through 2.6.10 on Windows allows an external, lesser privileged process to create a named pipe which the OpenVPN GUI component would connect to allowing it to escalate its privileges

Weakness: CWE-268 (Privilege Chaining)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-4877?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Openvpn Openvpn.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-4877?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-4877 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-4877 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-4877 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

- [CVE-2025-12106](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-12106/): Memory corruption in OpenVPN (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-5594](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-5594/): Information disclosure in OpenVPN (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2018-7544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7544/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2006-1629](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1629/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2021-3606](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3606/): Code injection in OpenVPN-GUI (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-4877 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-4877 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenVPN, published on 3 Apr 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-4877 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: OpenVPN. 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-2024-4877/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4877/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-4877
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-4877
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-4877

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4877/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.