Advisory Details

August 29th, 2016

Apple OS X IOHIDFamily Heap Buffer Overflow Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI-16-494
ZDI-CAN-3554

CVE ID CVE-2016-4650
CVSS SCORE 6.9, AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
AFFECTED VENDORS Apple
AFFECTED PRODUCTS OS X
VULNERABILITY DETAILS


This vulnerability allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Apple OS X. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must open a malicious file.

The specific flaw exists within the IOHIDFamily kernel extension. The issue lies in the failure to validate a supplied length value causing a heap buffer overflow. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute code under the context of the kernel.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS Apple has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206567
DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
  • 2016-02-12 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2016-08-29 - Coordinated public release of advisory
CREDIT Peter Pi of Trend Micro
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