CVE-2019-12579
A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for Linux and macOS could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Does this matter?
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.
Description
A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for Linux and macOS could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The PIA Linux/macOS binary openvpn_launcher.64 binary is setuid root. This binary accepts several parameters to update the system configuration. These parameters are passed to operating system commands using a "here" document. The parameters are not sanitized, which allow for arbitrary commands to be injected using shell metacharacters. A local unprivileged user can pass special crafted parameters that will be interpolated by the operating system calls.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.81% probability · 57th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-78
- Affected
- londontrustmedia/private internet access vpn client
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 0.8% 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/mirchr/security-research/blob/master/vulnerabilities/PIA/CVE-2019-12579.txtExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/mirchr/security-research/blob/master/vulnerabilities/PIA/CVE-2019-12579.txtExploit, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.