Parallels Desktop Updater Time-Of-Check Time-Of-Use Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Parallels Desktop. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target host system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Updater service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to execute a file. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root. . Was ZDI-CAN-18150.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-27323 is rated Moderate Risk (40.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 2025-11-21 | 0.03% | 0.09% | +0.06% |
| 2 | 2025-11-18 | 0.12% | 0.03% | -0.09% |
| 3 | 2025-04-15 | — | 0.12% | — |
Full EPSS history (4 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.0 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| parallels | parallels_desktop | < 18.1.0_\(53311\) | cpe:2.3:a:parallels:parallels_desktop:*:*:*:*:*:macos:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://kb.parallels.com/125013 | Vendor Advisory |
| https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-23-217/ | Third Party Advisory |