CVE-2024-40821 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 07/30/2024
An access issue was addressed with additional sandbox restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.7.6, macOS Sonoma 14.6, macOS Ventura 13.6.8. Third party app extensions may not receive the correct sandbox restrictions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/04/2026
This vulnerability represents a sandboxing weakness in apple's macos operating system that affects multiple versions including monterey 12.7.6, sonoma 14.6, and ventura 13.6.8. The issue stems from insufficient sandbox restrictions applied to third party application extensions, creating potential security gaps in the system's privilege separation mechanisms. Sandboxing is a critical security feature designed to isolate applications and prevent them from accessing resources they shouldn't have access to, forming a fundamental layer of protection against malicious code execution and privilege escalation attacks.
The technical flaw manifests when third party app extensions fail to receive proper sandbox restrictions that should be enforced by the operating system. This creates a scenario where extensions may operate with elevated privileges or access resources beyond their intended scope, potentially allowing them to read sensitive data, execute unauthorized operations, or communicate with external systems without proper authorization. The vulnerability specifically impacts the enforcement of sandbox policies for extensions, which are typically used to extend browser functionality or provide additional system services through plugins or add-ons.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability could enable attackers to exploit third party extensions as a vector for privilege escalation or information disclosure. The weakness allows extensions to potentially bypass normal access controls that would normally prevent them from accessing system resources or user data. This could lead to unauthorized data access, system compromise, or the ability to execute malicious code with elevated privileges. The impact is particularly concerning given that many users rely on third party extensions for various functionalities, making this a widespread potential attack surface.
The fix implemented in the updated versions addresses this by strengthening the enforcement of sandbox restrictions for third party app extensions. This involves tighter controls on how extensions are isolated from the rest of the system and what resources they can access. Organizations should ensure all affected systems are updated to the latest versions to remediate this vulnerability. Security teams should also review the extension landscape on their systems to identify potentially vulnerable third party components and consider implementing additional monitoring for suspicious extension behavior. This vulnerability aligns with common weakness enumerations related to improper access control and sandbox bypass techniques, and could potentially be leveraged as part of broader attack chains targeting system integrity and user data protection.
The remediation approach focuses on strengthening the core sandboxing infrastructure that protects application extensions from unauthorized access. This represents a defensive measure that aligns with security best practices for privilege separation and least privilege principles. System administrators should prioritize patching across all affected macos versions to ensure proper enforcement of sandbox restrictions for third party extensions. Continued monitoring of extension behavior and access patterns can help detect potential exploitation attempts and provide early warning of any residual vulnerabilities in the sandbox enforcement mechanisms.