CVE-2019-12571

Exp

A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v0.9.8 beta (build 02099) for macOS could allow an authenticated, local attacker to overwrite arbitrary files. When the client initiates a connection, the XML /tmp/pia-watcher.plist file is created. If the file exists, it will be truncated and the contents completely overwritten. This file is removed on disconnect. An unprivileged user can create a hard or soft link to arbitrary files owned by any user on the system, including root. This creates a denial of service condition and possible data loss if leveraged by a malicious local user.

Published: 2019-07-11 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-12571 is rated High Exploit Risk (60/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.64%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-12571

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-12571

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.03% 0.64% +0.61%
2 2025-03-30 0.08% 0.03% -0.04%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-12571

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.2 [email protected]
6.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 9.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-12571

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-12571

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
londontrustmedia private_internet_access_vpn_client 0.9.8 cpe:2.3:a:londontrustmedia:private_internet_access_vpn_client:0.9.8:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-12571

cvelogic Threat Intelligence