CVE-2026-9560
Command Injection in Openvpn Connect 3.5.1 – 3.8.2
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-9560 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Openvpn Connect. Its CVSS base score is 9.4 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 46th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-31941
Vulnerability Data
Privilege escalation via background service of OpenVPN Connect 3.5.1 through 3.8.1 on macOS allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges via local IPC channel
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 12 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
V13.2.2V3.7.3V9.2.2V9.2.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-3 enforces access authorizations according to policy at every request, structurally preventing incorrect privilege elevation or retention across context switches.
Least privilege directly requires that privileges grant only the minimal actions needed, preventing definition of overly broad privileges that include unintended unsafe operations.
Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.
Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.
AC-24 mandates that access-control decisions be made and enforced correctly for each request, directly addressing flawed privilege context switches.
Separation of duties splits high-risk actions across multiple privileges so that no single privilege can perform the full unsafe sequence.
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.
PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.
Defining and enforcing least-privilege permissions directly reduces the chance that a privilege permits unintended unsafe actions.
Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).
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.
Access control policy can limit unsafe privilege use but does not define safe actions for each privilege.
Access rights assignment can restrict privileges to intended actions, yet does not guarantee the privilege itself is safe.
Segregation of duties reduces risk of unsafe actions by splitting privileges but does not address unsafe privilege definitions.
Use of privileged utility programs restricts dangerous tools but does not address unsafe actions within assigned privileges.
Privileged access rights control can restrict unsafe privileges, yet does not ensure the privilege definition itself is safe.
Secure development lifecycle can catch unsafe privilege definitions during design but does not prevent them at runtime.
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` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271725 OL 9 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-267
Ubuntu 22.04 (3 rules)
- V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-267, CWE-270
- V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-267
- V-260542 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must prevent direct login into the root account. prevents CWE-267