# CVE-2024-52561: Privilege escalation in Parallels Desktop for Mac

> An attacker can escalate privileges by exploiting a symlink vulnerability in the snapshot deletion process of Parallels Desktop for Mac.

- **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:** 3 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 3 Jun 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h429-pw2c-7w4q

## What is CVE-2024-52561?

CVE-2024-52561 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 Snapshot functionality of Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.1.1 (build 55740). When a snapshot of a virtual machine is deleted, a root service verifies and modifies the ownership of the snapshot files. By using a symlink, an attacker can change the ownership of files owned by root to a lower-privilege user, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), CWE-708 (Incorrect Ownership Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-52561?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Parallels Parallels Desktop.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-52561?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-52561 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-52561 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-52561 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Parallels Parallels Desktop

- [CVE-2025-31359](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-31359/): Path traversal in Parallels Desktop for Mac (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-34864](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34864/): Privilege escalation in Desktop (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-31420](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31420/): Memory corruption in Desktop (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-31424](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31424/): Memory corruption in Desktop (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-31425](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31425/): Integer overflow in Desktop (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-52561 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-52561 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.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-52561 exists.

Affected product: Parallels Parallels Desktop. 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-2024-52561/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-52561/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-52561
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-52561
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-52561

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-52561/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.