CVE-2026-90894
Parallels Desktop local privilege escalation via appliance extract argument injection
CVSS Score
7.8
EPSS Score
0.0%
EPSS Percentile
0th
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.
| CWE | CWE-88 CWE-78 CWE-269 |
| Vendor | parallels |
| Product | parallels desktop for mac |
| Published | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Last Updated | Sep 15, 2026 |
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CVSS v3 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Affected Versions
Parallels / Parallels Desktop for Mac
26.4.0
References
Credits
Yuval Moravchick | JFrog