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Parallels Desktop < 27.0.0 Local Privilege Escalation (macOS)

high Nessus Plugin ID 347968

Synopsis

An application installed on the remote macOS host is affected by a privilege escalation vulnerability.

Description

The version of Parallels Desktop installed on the remote macOS host is prior to 27.0.0. It is, therefore, affected by a privilege escalation vulnerability:

 - Parallels Desktop runs prl_disp_service as root. Local clients reach it on the world-writable socket /var/run/prl_disp_service.socket. PrlSrv_LoginLocal accepts peer credentials. No Parallels signature. No admin group. After login, PrlSrv_InstallAppliance lets you pick the appliance folder (sVmParentPath). The daemon unpacks with one string, tar -xf '%1' -C '%2', then Qt QProcess::splitCommand chops that string into words. A quote in the folder name closes early. The leftover text becomes extra tar flags. macOS tar --use-compress-program= runs the named program as root. (CVE-2026-90894)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade to Parallels Desktop version 27.0.0 or later.

See Also

https://kb.parallels.com/en/131168

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 347968

File Name: macos_parallels_desktop_27_0_0.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: macosx

Published: 9/18/2026

Updated: 9/18/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.26

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-90894

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:parallels:parallels_desktop

Required KB Items: Host/MacOSX/Version, installed_sw/Parallels Desktop

Patch Publication Date: 8/25/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/14/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-90894

IAVB: 2026-B-0268