CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2018-10190 — Londontrustmedia Private Internet Access security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

A vulnerability in London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v77 for Windows could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to run executable files with elevated privileges. The vulnerability is due to insufficient implementation of access controls. The "Changelog" and "Help" options available from the system tray context menu spawn an elevated instance of the user's default web browser. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by selecting "Run as Administrator" from the context menu of an executable file within the file browser of the spawned default web browser. This may allow the attacker to execute privileged commands on the targeted system.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.0)
Published
2018-04-17
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
windows/system
Weaknesses
CWE-269

Affected products

  • londontrustmedia / private_internet_access / 77

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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