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CVE-2018-18857

Status: ModifiedHigh (7.8)—Exploit
Severity7.8High · CVSS 3.0
Exploitation probability1.60 %higher than 76% of CVEs
Active exploitationNonot in the CISA catalog
Public exploitAvailablePublished on Exploit-DB

Multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities have been identified in the LiquidVPN client through 1.37 for macOS. An attacker can communicate with an unprotected XPC service and directly execute arbitrary OS commands as root or load a potentially malicious kernel extension because com.smr.liquidvpn.OVPNHelper uses the system function to execute the "command_line" parameter as a shell command.

CVSS

Base score
7.8
Version
3.0
Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
1.60 %
Percentile among all scored CVEs
76
Score date
10/20/2026

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Public exploits

Exploit code or detection templates are publicly available. This is not the same as confirmed active exploitation (KEV), but it raises the risk: patch with priority.

Affected technologies (1)

Liquidvpn — Liquidvpn

CWEs

References

Show 6 references

Raw JSON (NVD)

Show
{
  "id": "CVE-2018-18857",
  "cveTags": [],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV2": [
      {
        "type": "Primary",
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "2.0",
          "baseScore": 7.2,
          "accessVector": "LOCAL",
          "vectorString": "AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C",
          "authentication": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "COMPLETE",
          "accessComplexity": "LOW",
          "availabilityImpact": "COMPLETE",
          "confidentialityImpact": "COMPLETE"
        },
        "acInsufInfo": false,
        "impactScore": 10,
        "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
        "obtainAllPrivilege": false,
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
        "obtainUserPrivilege": false,
        "obtainOtherPrivilege": false,
        "userInteractionRequired": false
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV30": [
      {
        "type": "Primary",
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "cvssData": {
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "version": "3.0",
          "baseScore": 7.8,
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "impactScore": 5.9,
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.8
      }
    ]
  },
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "cve@mitre.org",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "n/a",
          "product": "n/a",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "n/a"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published": "2018-11-20T19:29:01.510",
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/150137/LiquidVPN-For-macOS-1.3.7-Privilege-Escalation.html",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Third Party Advisory",
        "VDB Entry"
      ],
      "source": "cve@mitre.org"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Nov/1",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Mailing List",
        "Third Party Advisory"
      ],
      "source": "cve@mitre.org"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45782/",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Third Party Advisory",
        "VDB Entry"
      ],
      "source": "cve@mitre.org"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/150137/LiquidVPN-For-macOS-1.3.7-Privilege-Escalation.html",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Third Party Advisory",
        "VDB Entry"
      ],
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Nov/1",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Mailing List",
        "Third Party Advisory"
      ],
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45782/",
      "tags": [
        "Exploit",
        "Third Party Advisory",
        "VDB Entry"
      ],
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    }
  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Modified",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "type": "Primary",
      "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-78"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "Multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities have been identified in the LiquidVPN client through 1.37 for macOS. An attacker can communicate with an unprotected XPC service and directly execute arbitrary OS commands as root or load a potentially malicious kernel extension because com.smr.liquidvpn.OVPNHelper uses the system function to execute the \"command_line\" parameter as a shell command."
    },
    {
      "lang": "es",
      "value": "Se han identificado múltiples vulnerabilidades de escalado de privilegios local en el cliente LiquidVPN hasta la versión 1.37 para macOS. Un atacante puede comunicarse con un servicio XPC sin proteger y ejecutar directamente comandos arbitrarios del sistema operativo como root o cargar una extensión del kernel potencialmente maliciosa debido a que com.smr.liquidvpn.OVPNHelper emplea la función system para ejecutar el parámetro \"command_line\" como comando shell."
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-06-17T01:48:01.717",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "nodes": [
        {
          "negate": false,
          "cpeMatch": [
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:liquidvpn:liquidvpn:*:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*",
              "vulnerable": true,
              "matchCriteriaId": "973AFA73-5D2F-465A-907F-D843B0466934",
              "versionEndIncluding": "1.37"
            }
          ],
          "operator": "OR"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "cve@mitre.org"
}