Overview
The "recent items" feature of MacOS X allows users at the console to trivially obtain root privileges.
Description
MacOS X includes a feature called recent items. Recent Items is a list of documents and applications that have recently been accessed. An application launched from the Recent Items list runs with the privileges of the foreground application, not the privilege of the console user. This enables a trivial exploit to gain root access from the console. |
Impact
Attackers with access to the console (i.e. logged in at the desktop, not remotely) can gain root access. |
Solution
Use the Software Update feature of MacOS X to install the security update dated 10-19-2001. |
Vendor Information
CVSS Metrics
| Group | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|
| Base | ||
| Temporal | ||
| Environmental |
References
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Ben Crosby and César Valencia who reported this problem to us. Additionally, we thank Scott Anguish for his article on Stepwise.com.
This document was written by Shawn V. Hernan.
Other Information
| CVE IDs: | None |
| Severity Metric: | 10.50 |
| Date Public: | 2001-10-18 |
| Date First Published: | 2001-11-05 |
| Date Last Updated: | 2001-11-05 19:48 UTC |
| Document Revision: | 12 |