CVE-2024-44188 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 09/17/2024
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15. An app may be able to access protected user data.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/25/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical permissions flaw in macOS Sequoia 15 that allows applications to potentially access protected user data without proper authorization. The issue stems from insufficient access controls and inadequate sandboxing mechanisms that should normally prevent unauthorized data access. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-284 access control weakness category, specifically addressing improper privileges allocation where applications may obtain elevated permissions beyond their intended scope. From an operational perspective, this flaw could enable malicious applications to extract sensitive user information including personal documents, communications, and system credentials. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this under privilege escalation techniques where adversaries leverage system weaknesses to gain unauthorized access to restricted resources. The vulnerability exists in the macOS security framework's permission model, where applications may bypass normal access restrictions through flawed validation mechanisms. This issue particularly affects user privacy and system integrity by allowing unauthorized data access that should be restricted to specific applications or system processes. The fix implemented in macOS Sequoia 15 addresses the underlying permission validation logic to ensure proper access controls are enforced. Security researchers identified that the flaw occurred during the application sandboxing process where access tokens were not properly validated before granting data access. The vulnerability demonstrates a failure in the principle of least privilege where applications receive more access rights than necessary for their legitimate operations. Organizations should immediately deploy the macOS Sequoia 15 update to remediate this issue and prevent potential exploitation. System administrators should also review application permissions and monitor for unusual access patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining robust access control mechanisms in operating systems and the need for continuous security auditing of permission models. Proper application code review and adherence to secure coding practices can help prevent similar issues in the future. Users should be educated about the risks of installing untrusted applications that may exploit such vulnerabilities to access their personal data. The remediation process involves updating the operating system to ensure proper enforcement of access controls and sandboxing policies. Security monitoring should focus on detecting unauthorized access attempts and validating that applications operate within their designated permission boundaries. This vulnerability underscores the critical nature of maintaining strong access control mechanisms in modern operating systems to protect user privacy and system integrity.