Advisory Details

December 19th, 2019

Apple macOS apfs Use-After-Free Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI-19-1026
ZDI-CAN-8767

CVE ID CVE-2019-8835
CVSS SCORE 8.8, AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
AFFECTED VENDORS Apple
AFFECTED PRODUCTS macOS
VULNERABILITY DETAILS

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Apple macOS. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the apfs kernel extension. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this to escalate privileges and execute code in 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/HT210792
DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
  • 2019-08-07 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2019-12-19 - Coordinated public release of advisory
CREDIT Mac
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