CVE-2025-0413: Parallels Desktop Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-0413 Overview

CVE-2025-0413 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Parallels Desktop Technical Data Reporter component. The flaw allows a low-privileged local attacker to abuse a symbolic link (symlink) attack against the service to change permissions on arbitrary files. Successful exploitation lets the attacker execute arbitrary code as root. The issue is classified under CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access). It was reported through the Zero Day Initiative as ZDI-CAN-25014 and disclosed as ZDI-25-082.

Critical Impact
A local attacker with the ability to run low-privileged code can escalate to root, gaining full control of the host and any virtualized workloads managed by Parallels Desktop.

Affected Products

Parallels Desktop for Mac (Technical Data Reporter component)
Parallels Remote Application Server
Parallels for Windows (per CPE cpe:2.3:a:parallels:parallels:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*)

Discovery Timeline

2025-02-05 - CVE-2025-0413 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-0413

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Technical Data Reporter component that ships with Parallels Desktop. This component runs with elevated privileges to collect and process diagnostic telemetry. During its operation, the service manipulates file permissions on paths that a local, unprivileged user can influence. Because the service does not safely resolve links before acting on those paths, an attacker can substitute a target path with a symbolic link that points to a security-sensitive file. When the privileged service performs its permission change, the operation follows the link and modifies the target file instead of the intended one.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper link resolution before file access (CWE-59). The Technical Data Reporter changes file permissions without verifying whether the target path is a symbolic link or whether ownership matches the expected caller. This creates a classic time-of-check to time-of-use exposure between path evaluation and the permission change.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is local. An attacker must first execute low-privileged code on the target host. The attacker plants a symbolic link at a path that the Technical Data Reporter operates on, then triggers the privileged operation. The service resolves the link and applies attacker-chosen permissions to a root-owned file such as a setuid binary, sudo configuration, or system script. The attacker then executes that file to achieve code execution as root. Additional detail is documented in the Parallels Knowledge Base Article and the Zero Day Initiative Advisory ZDI-25-082.

No public proof-of-concept code is available at this time, so an exploit walkthrough is intentionally omitted.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-0413

Indicators of Compromise

Creation of symbolic links by non-privileged users inside directories accessed by the Parallels Technical Data Reporter service.
Unexpected permission changes (chmod events) on root-owned files such as /etc/sudoers, /etc/pam.d/*, or setuid binaries.
New or modified setuid or setgid binaries shortly after Parallels Technical Data Reporter activity.
Execution of shells or interpreters as root spawned from processes owned by a standard user.

Detection Strategies

Monitor filesystem telemetry for symlink and link syscalls issued by low-privileged users targeting paths written to by Parallels services.
Alert on process lineage where a Parallels-signed helper writes to, or changes permissions on, files outside its expected working directories.
Correlate low-privilege user activity followed within seconds by a privileged permission change on a sensitive system file.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable endpoint detection and response (EDR) file integrity monitoring on Parallels installation directories and system security files.
Ingest macOS Endpoint Security and Windows Sysmon events into a SIEM to preserve chmod, symlink, and process-creation history for forensic review.
Track versions of Parallels Desktop and Parallels Remote Application Server across the fleet to identify unpatched hosts.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-0413

Immediate Actions Required

Update Parallels Desktop and Parallels Remote Application Server to the fixed release identified in the Parallels Knowledge Base Article.
Restrict interactive local access on shared or multi-user hosts running Parallels software.
Audit systems for recently modified permissions on root-owned files and rotate any credentials that may have been exposed.

Patch Information

Parallels has published guidance and fixed builds in KB 130212. Administrators should apply the vendor-supplied update on all endpoints running Parallels Desktop, and on servers running Parallels Remote Application Server, as directed by the vendor advisory and the corresponding ZDI advisory ZDI-25-082.

Workarounds

Disable or stop the Parallels Technical Data Reporter component where operationally acceptable until the patch is deployed.
Limit membership of local administrator and standard user groups on hosts running Parallels software to reduce the pool of potential attackers.
Enforce application allowlisting to block untrusted binaries from executing as low-privileged users on affected hosts.

bash

# Verify installed Parallels Desktop version on macOS
prlctl --version

# List Parallels launch agents/daemons and their status
sudo launchctl list | grep -i parallels