Vendor

Parallels Desktop

1 mentions in 7 days · 1 in 30 days · 1 total · first seen Sep 16, 2026 · last 10h ago

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Parallels Desktop Vulnerability Lets Non-Admin Mac Users Execute Code as Root

JFrog researchers disclosed CVE-2026-90894, a critical Parallels Desktop local privilege escalation letting non-admin Mac users execute code as root; fixed in 27.0.0.

JFrog researchers found that Parallels Desktop's privileged prl_disp_service daemon on macOS accepts unsigned local clients through a world-writable socket and allows argument injection into a tar command during appliance installation. Injecting the --use-compress-program option makes tar execute an attacker-controlled program as root, and a one-line proof of concept yielded a root shell without needing a running virtual machine. The flaw, dubbed ParaShells, was confirmed in Parallels Desktop 26.4.0 build 57513 on Apple Silicon and is fixed in version 27.0.0. No exploitation in the wild has been reported; administrators should inventory and upgrade affected installations and restrict local account access.

Cyber Security Newsupdated 13:14 UTC · 6h agofirst 09:24 UTC · 10h agoVulnerability 4 sources CVE-2026-90894

Related CVEsby mentions

CVE-2026-908947.8—
Local Root Privilege Escalation in Parallels Desktop via tar Argument Injection
Parallels Desktop on macOS runs its prl_disp_service daemon as root and exposes it on the world-writable Unix socket /var/run/prl_disp_service.socket, where PrlSrv_LoginLocal authenticates clients purely on peer credentials without checking for a Parallels signature or administrator group membership. Once connected, any local user can call PrlSrv_InstallAppliance and supply an appliance folder path (sVmParentPath) that gets embedded in the command string tar -xf "%1" -C "%2"; because Qt's QProcess::splitCommand re-splits the string into words, an embedded quote closes the argument early and turns leftover text into attacker-chosen tar flags. macOS tar's --use-compress-program option then executes the named program, giving the attacker arbitrary code execution as root — a full local privilege escalation from any unprivileged account on the Mac. All Macs running an affected Parallels Desktop build (the advisory does not specify version ranges) with additional local user accounts are exposed. No public proof of concept is known and the CVE is not in CISA's KEV catalog, so there is no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at this time.
· Parallels (Alludo) Parallels Desktop for Macmass

Appears with

organization JFrog 1 organization Parallels 1 product Parallels Desktop 1 vendor Apple 1 vendor JFrog 1

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