An attacker with local, unprivileged access can insert a newline character into the CA-File path used by NetworkManager‑vpnc. This manipulation causes the plugin to treat subsequent text as separate commands, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary shell commands with root privileges. The resulting escalation could compromise system confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and is categorized as CWE‑93 Path Traversal / injection.

The affected product is GNOME's NetworkManager‑vpnc VPN plugin. No specific version ranges were listed in the CNA data, so any installation of this plugin on systems running GNOME is potentially vulnerable until a patch is applied or the plugin is removed.

The CVSS score of 7.8 indicates high severity, while the EPSS value is not available, leaving the likelihood of exploitation unknown. The issue is not listed in CISA KEV, suggesting no confirmed public exploits at the time. Because the flaw requires local access, the attack vector is limited to the local user. After exploitation, the attacker can gain root privileges and perform any administrative action on the host.