CVE-2008-3618 in Mac OS X
Summary
by MITRE
The File Sharing pane in the Sharing preference pane in Apple Mac OS X 10.5 through 10.5.4 does not inform users that the complete contents of their own home directories are shared for their own use, which might allow attackers to leverage other vulnerabilities and access files for which sharing was unintended.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/31/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2008-3618 represents a significant security oversight in Apple Mac OS X versions 10.5 through 10.5.4, specifically within the File Sharing functionality of the Sharing preference pane. This issue stems from a lack of proper user awareness regarding the default sharing configuration of home directories, creating a dangerous assumption that users may not fully understand the implications of their system's default settings.
The technical flaw manifests in the File Sharing pane's user interface design, which fails to adequately communicate that users' complete home directories are automatically shared for their own use. This default configuration creates a potential attack vector where malicious actors could exploit other system vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to files that were not intended for public sharing. The vulnerability operates under the principle of least privilege violation, where system defaults inadvertently provide broader access than users might reasonably expect or desire.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability significantly increases the attack surface for Mac OS X systems running the affected versions. The flaw allows attackers to leverage other existing vulnerabilities to access sensitive personal data, documents, and potentially system configuration files that reside within home directories. This represents a classic case of information disclosure through improper access control configuration, where the system's default behavior creates unintended exposure points that could be exploited by adversaries with minimal technical expertise.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data access, as it can serve as a foothold for more sophisticated attacks. Attackers can combine this weakness with other exploits to escalate privileges, access additional system resources, or perform reconnaissance activities that would otherwise be blocked by proper access controls. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-200 (Information Exposure) and represents a failure in proper system configuration management, where default settings should never compromise security. The issue also relates to ATT&CK technique T1083 (File and Directory Discovery) as it enables unauthorized discovery of user files through the sharing mechanism.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require system administrators and users to carefully review and adjust sharing preferences to ensure that only explicitly intended directories are shared. The recommended approach involves disabling automatic sharing of home directories and manually configuring shared folders with appropriate access controls. Apple addressed this issue through subsequent system updates that improved user awareness and modified default sharing behaviors, emphasizing the importance of proper access control configuration in operating system design. Organizations should implement regular security audits to verify sharing configurations and ensure that system defaults align with organizational security policies and risk tolerance levels.