Auth bypass in Privateinternetaccess Private Internet Access Vpn Client
CVE-2020-15590
A vulnerability in the Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client for Linux 1.5 through 2.3+ allows remote attackers to bypass an intended VPN kill switch mechanism and read sensitive information via intercepting network traffic. Since 1.5, PIA has supported a “split tunnel” OpenVPN bypass option. The PIA killswitch & associated iptables firewall is designed to protect you while using the Internet. When the kill switch is configured to block all inbound and outbound network traffic, privileged applications can continue sending & receiving network traffic if net.ipv4.ip_forward has been enabled in the system kernel parameters. For example, a Docker container running on a host with the VPN turned off, and the kill switch turned on, can continue using the internet, leaking the host IP (CWE 200). In PIA 2.4.0+, policy-based routing is enabled by default and is used to direct all forwarded packets to the VPN interface automatically.
Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control
EPSS: 0.025 (83.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
Affected products
- Privateinternetaccess Private_internet_access_vpn_client
- N/a — versions n/a
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- cve@mitre.org (x_refsource_MISC, Not Applicable)
- cve@mitre.org (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC, Mitigation)
- cve@mitre.org (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC, Mitigation)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2020-15590?
- CVE-2020-15590 is a high-severity vulnerability in Privateinternetaccess Private Internet Access Vpn Client, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2020-09-14.
- How severe is CVE-2020-15590?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.