{"id":"CVE-2019-12578","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2019-12578","generatedAt":"2026-10-29T01:57:32.276Z","title":"A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for Linux could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges.","description":"A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for Linux could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The openvpn_launcher.64 binary is setuid root. This binary executes /opt/pia/openvpn-64/openvpn, passing the parameters provided from the command line. Care was taken to programmatically disable potentially dangerous openvpn parameters; however, the --route-pre-down parameter can be used. This parameter accepts an arbitrary path to a script/program to be executed when OpenVPN exits. The --script-security parameter also needs to be passed to allow for this action to be taken, and --script-security is not currently in the disabled parameter list. A local unprivileged user can pass a malicious script/binary to the --route-pre-down option, which will be executed as root when openvpn is stopped.","published":"2019-07-11T20:15:13.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T02:14:54.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.0","score":7.8,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-88"],"affected":["londontrustmedia/private internet access vpn client"],"epss":{"score":0.00808,"percentile":0.56646,"date":"2026-10-27","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.81%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/mirchr/security-research/blob/master/vulnerabilities/PIA/CVE-2019-12578.txt","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://github.com/mirchr/security-research/blob/master/vulnerabilities/PIA/CVE-2019-12578.txt","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-12578","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}