CVE-2007-0752
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe PPP daemon (pppd) in Apple Mac OS X 10.4.8 checks ownership of the stdin file descriptor to determine if the invoker has sufficient privileges, which allows local users to load arbitrary plugins and gain root privileges by bypassing this check.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe PPP daemon (pppd) in Apple Mac OS X 10.4.8 incorrectly uses stdin file descriptor ownership to determine if the invoking user has sufficient privileges, allowing local users to bypass this check and load arbitrary plugins to gain root privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 10.4.8= 10.4.8CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Verify the Mac OS X version is 10.4.8Run `sw_vers -productVersion` or check System Profiler > Software > Version to confirm the installed OS is exactly 10.4.8Affected if The version is anything other than 10.4.8, the system is not affected by this specific CVE
-
Confirm pppd is installedRun `which pppd` or check if /usr/sbin/pppd exists on the systemAffected if pppd is not installed, the vulnerability cannot be triggered
-
Check if pppd can be invoked by local usersAttempt to run `pppd --version` as a non-privileged user to see if the binary is executable and what version it reportsAffected if pppd executes and shows version 2.4.2 or similar on a 10.4.8 system, the flaw may be present
-
Inspect pppd plugin configurationCheck /etc/ppp/ directory and look for any .plugin files or plugin directives in /etc/ppp/options that specify which plugins pppd loads at startupAffected if arbitrary plugin loading is permitted and pppd runs with elevated privileges, exploitation is possible
-
Verify file ownership and permissions on pppdRun `ls -la /usr/sbin/pppd` to confirm the binary is owned by root and has the setuid bit setAffected if pppd has setuid root permissions and runs on version 10.4.8, the stdin ownership check vulnerability is present
A system is affected only if it is running exactly Mac OS X 10.4.8 with the pppd binary installed and configured with plugin loading capabilities that can be invoked by a local user to bypass privilege checks.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the vendor patch from Apple for this vulnerability or upgrade to a supported Mac OS X version, as Mac OS X 10.4.8 is no longer supported.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-0752 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-0752 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data