Vulnerability in Londontrustmedia Private Internet Access

CVE-2019-12572

A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client 1.0.2 (build 02363) for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. On startup, the PIA Windows service (pia-service.exe) loads the OpenSSL library from %PROGRAMFILES%\Private Internet Access\libeay32.dll. This library attempts to load the C:\etc\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file which does not exist. By default on Windows systems, authenticated users can create directories under C:\. A low privileged user can create a C:\etc\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine library resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts.

EPSS: 0.009 (57.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-12572?
CVE-2019-12572 is a high-severity vulnerability in Londontrustmedia Private Internet Access, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2019-06-21.
How severe is CVE-2019-12572?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-12572 known to be exploited?
4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.