CVE-2007-0753
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 · uneditedFormat string vulnerability in the VPN daemon (vpnd) in Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.9 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via the -i parameter.
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 confidenceA format string vulnerability exists in the VPN daemon (vpnd) in Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.9. The -i parameter is not properly sanitized before being passed to a format string function, allowing local users to inject format specifiers (e.g., %n, %s) to read from or write to arbitrary memory locations and potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated 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= 10.3= 10.3.1= 10.3.2= 10.3.3= 10.3.4= 10.3.5= 10.3.6= 10.3.7= 10.3.8= 10.3.9= 10.4= 10.4.1= 10.3= 10.3.1= 10.3.2= 10.3.3= 10.3.4= 10.3.5= 10.3.6= 10.3.7= 10.3.8= 10.3.9= 10.4= 10.4.1CVSS 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.
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Check Mac OS X versionRun 'sw_vers' or 'uname -a' to determine the installed Mac OS X versionAffected if The version is 10.3.x through 10.4.1 (specifically 10.3, 10.3.1, 10.3.2, 10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.5, 10.3.6, 10.3.7, 10.3.8, 10.3.9, 10.4, or 10.4.1)
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Verify vpnd binary existsCheck for the presence of the vpnd binary, typically located at /usr/sbin/vpnd or via 'which vpnd'Affected if The vpnd binary exists on the system
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Check if vpnd is accessibleVerify the vpnd binary has execute permissions and can be invoked by checking file permissions with 'ls -la /usr/sbin/vpnd'Affected if vpnd is present and executable
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Determine vpnd usage contextReview any startup scripts, launchd configurations, or administrative configurations that invoke vpnd, particularly with the -i parameterAffected if vpnd is configured to run with the -i parameter, which is where the format string vulnerability is triggered
A system is affected if it runs Mac OS X version 10.3.x through 10.4.1 and has the vpnd daemon installed with the -i parameter in use, allowing local privilege escalation via format string injection.
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 dataUpgrade to a supported Mac OS X version that has received security patches, as both affected versions are end-of-life. If continued use is required, apply any available vendor patches for vpnd and ensure only trusted local users have access to the system.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-0753 — 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-2007-0753 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
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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