dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2007-3749

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2007-11-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.4.10 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
The kernel in Apple Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.4.10 does not reset the current Mach Thread Port or Thread Exception Port when executing a setuid program, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code by creating the port before launching the setuid program, then writing to the address space of the setuid process.

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 confidence

The Mac OS X kernel (10.4 through 10.4.10) fails to reset the Mach Thread Port and Thread Exception Port when executing setuid programs. This allows a local attacker to create a malicious port before launching a setuid binary, then write to the address space of that privileged process to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

MitigationApply Apple's security update for this vulnerability or upgrade to a Mac OS X version beyond 10.4.10. This is a kernel-level flaw requiring an OS patch; no workarounds exist.

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
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:>= 10.4.0, <= 10.4.10

CVSS 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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Mac OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers' or 'uname -a' to determine the exact OS version number
    Affected if The version displayed is 10.4.0 through 10.4.10 (any 10.4.x release at or below 10.4.10)
  2. Verify kernel revision
    Run 'uname -r' to get the kernel version, then cross-reference with Apple documentation for the corresponding OS release
    Affected if The kernel version corresponds to Mac OS X 10.4.10 or earlier
  3. Confirm setuid binaries exist
    Run 'ls -la /usr/bin/*' and look for files with 's' in the permissions column (setuid bit set)
    Affected if The system has setuid binaries present (this is normal but required for the vulnerability to be exploitable)

A system is affected if it is running any Mac OS X version from 10.4.0 through 10.4.10 that has not been patched; this is determined solely by the OS version number.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 10.4.10
Interim mitigation

Apply Apple's security update for this vulnerability or upgrade to a Mac OS X version beyond 10.4.10. This is a kernel-level flaw requiring an OS patch; no workarounds exist.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-3749 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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