CVE-2024-52561
Parallels Desktop 20.1.1_\(55740\)
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-52561 is a high-severity Incorrect Ownership Assignment (CWE-708) vulnerability in Parallels Parallels Desktop. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 16th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-54641
Vulnerability Data
A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Snapshot functionality of Parallels Desktop for Mac version 20.1.1 (build 55740). When a snapshot of a virtual machine is deleted, a root service verifies and modifies the ownership of the snapshot files. By…
more
using a symlink, an attacker can change the ownership of files owned by root to a lower-privilege user, potentially leading to privilege escalation.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 4 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V15.4.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces approved authorizations on resource access, which structurally prevents assignment of ownership outside the intended control sphere.
Provides the mechanism to associate and manage security attributes such as ownership, directly stopping incorrect owner assignment.
Least-privilege limits the damage an attacker can cause after following an unintended link.
Validating file-name inputs can reject or canonicalize names that resolve to links before access occurs.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect link-following flaws before release.
Access-control policy can mandate correct ownership assignment, but does not prescribe how ownership is technically enforced.
Identity-management processes define who may own resources, yet do not guarantee correct assignment at creation time.
Access-rights provisioning includes ownership assignment; fixing CWE-708 directly supports this control's intent.
Role definitions can require ownership accountability, but the control itself does not address technical assignment errors.
Privileged-access rules often include ownership checks, yet the control focuses on elevated rights rather than ownership correctness.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204392 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the file permissions, ownership, and group membership of system files and commands match the vendor values. prevents CWE-708