CVE-2018-18860

HIGH

SwitchVPN 2.1012.03 - Local Privilege Escalation via SUID Binary

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2018-18860. PoCs published by Bernd Leitner.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit demonstrates a privilege escalation vulnerability in SwitchVPN for macOS (CVE-2018-18860) where the application's `fix_permissions.sh` script sets world-writable permissions and SUID bits on critical binaries, allowing an attacker to replace the `SwitchVPN_GUI` binary with a malicious script to gain root access.

Description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in the SwitchVPN client 2.1012.03 for macOS. Due to over-permissive configuration settings and a SUID binary, an attacker is able to execute arbitrary binaries as root.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC
by Bernd Leitner · textlocalmacos
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45854

This exploit demonstrates a privilege escalation vulnerability in SwitchVPN for macOS (CVE-2018-18860) where the application's `fix_permissions.sh` script sets world-writable permissions and SUID bits on critical binaries, allowing an attacker to replace the `SwitchVPN_GUI` binary with a malicious script to gain root access.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: SwitchVPN for MacOS 2.1012.03
No auth needed
Prerequisites: SwitchVPN for MacOS installed · Local access to the system
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry exploit x_refsource_exploit-db
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45854/
Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_fulldisc
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Nov/38

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8
EPSS 0.0118
EPSS Percentile 63.8%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (1)
switchvpn/switchvpn 2.1012.03
Published Nov 30, 2018
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026