Apple OS X IOPMrootDomain Memory Corruption Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

July 20th, 2016
ZDI-16-436 ZDI-CAN-3654

CVE ID

CVE-2016-4653

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 visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.

The specific flaw exists within IOPMrootDomain. By publishing to this service, an attacker can cause memory corruption. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

Additional Details

Apple has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206903

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2016-04-05 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2016-07-20 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Ju Zhu of Trend Micro

Back to Advisories