Apple macOS 10.10 privilege escalation via DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE
Environment variable overflow in macOS 10.10.0–10.10.4 allows local privilege escalation through arbitrary file write.
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What to check
- Applies to
- The 1 CVE named below. Whether you run an affected version is not assessed: check the versions the source lists.
- Exploitation
- No exploitation in the wild and no public exploit is recorded for the CVEs named.
A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Apple macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) versions 10.10.0 through 10.10.4. The flaw involves improper handling of the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE environment variable, which is used to direct system error logging to a specified file. An attacker can exploit this by overflowing or manipulating the variable to achieve arbitrary file write with elevated privileges, leading to privilege escalation. This vulnerability is specific to macOS 10.10 and does not affect earlier versions. The affected environment variable functionality was introduced in version 10.10, making prior releases unaffected. Patches are available from Apple and defenders should apply them immediately to affected systems.
Mentioned in this report
Source reporting: https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/alerte/CERTFR-2015-ALE-009
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