CVE-2023-27323: parallels desktop — Fix

Description

Parallels Desktop Updater Time-Of-Check Time-Of-Use Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target host system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Updater service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to execute a file. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root. . Was ZDI-CAN-18150.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2023-27323?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

7.8

HIGH

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

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-367 CWE-367

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
parallels	parallels_desktop	< 18.1.0_\(53311\)

References

Advisories & Patches

https://kb.parallels.com/125013 https://kb.parallels.com/125013

Other References

https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-23-217/ https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-23-217/

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-27323? +

Parallels Desktop Updater Time-Of-Check Time-Of-Use Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target host system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Updater service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to execute a file. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root. . Was ZDI-CAN-18150. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2023-27323? +

CVE-2023-27323 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching.

What products are affected by CVE-2023-27323? +

CVE-2023-27323 affects products from parallels, specifically: parallels_desktop. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2023-27323? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-5958

When sed is invoked with both -i (in-place edit) and --follow-symlinks, the function open_next_file() performs two separate, non-atomic filesystem operations …

CVE-2026-42336

MaxKB is an open-source AI assistant for enterprise. MaxKB 2.8.0 and prior are vulnerable to a server-side request forgery (SSRF) …

CVE-2025-26620

Duende.AccessTokenManagement is a set of .NET libraries that manage OAuth and OpenId Connect access tokens. Duende.AccessTokenManagement contains a race condition …

CVE-2024-53694

A time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability has been reported to affect several product versions. If exploited, the vulnerability could …

CVE-2025-32784

conda-forge-webservices is the web app deployed to run conda-forge admin commands and linting. In versions prior to 2025.4.10, a race …

CVE-2025-34027

The Versa Concerto SD-WAN orchestration platform is vulnerable to an authentication bypass in the Traefik reverse proxy configuration, allowing at …

CVE-2023-27323