CVE-2018-7281
CactusVPN 5.3.6 for macOS contains a root privilege escalation vulnerability through a setuid root binary called runme.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.54%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
CactusVPN 5.3.6 for macOS contains a root privilege escalation vulnerability through a setuid root binary called runme. The binary takes a single command line argument and passes this argument to a system() call, thus allowing low privileged users to execute commands as root.
- CVSS 3.0
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.54% probability · 75th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- cactusvpn/cactusvpn
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 1.5% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/VerSprite/research/blob/master/advisories/VS-2018-003.mdThird Party Advisory
- https://github.com/VerSprite/research/blob/master/advisories/VS-2018-003.mdThird Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.