Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2007-5847

MEDIUM · 6.6 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-12-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges 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
Race condition in the CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource API in Core Foundation in Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11 creates files with insecure permissions, which might allow local users to obtain sensitive information.

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 CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource API in Core Foundation on Mac OS X 10.4.11 contains a race condition that causes files to be created with insecure permissions, potentially allowing local unprivileged users to read sensitive data.

MitigationUpgrade from Mac OS X 10.4.11 to a supported macOS version, as this vulnerability is in the OS kernel/API layer and cannot be patched in the legacy system itself; implement file permission monitoring as a compensating control if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

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:= 10.4.11

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
None

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N

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. Verify the Mac OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers' in Terminal or check System Preferences > About This Mac. Look for build version 9F33 or the exact version 10.4.11.
    Affected if The system is running Mac OS X 10.4.11 exactly, or any earlier version of Mac OS X 10.4.x.
  2. Identify applications using the vulnerable API
    Search application codebases and binaries for calls to 'CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource' using tools like 'strings', 'otool -Tv', or grep. Review any third-party applications that write data to URLs.
    Affected if Applications on the system invoke the CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource API to create files.
  3. Inspect recently created file permissions
    Use 'ls -la' in directories where applications write files. Check the permission bits (e.g., -rw-rw-rw- instead of -rw-------). Run 'stat <filename>' for detailed permission metadata.
    Affected if Files created by applications using the vulnerable API have overly permissive permissions (e.g., world-readable or group-readable when they should be private).
  4. Monitor for unexpected world-readable files
    Run 'find / -perm -004 -type f 2>/dev/null' to locate world-readable files, focusing on directories containing sensitive user data such as Documents, Application Support, or configuration files.
    Affected if Files that should contain sensitive data are unexpectedly world-readable, allowing any local user to read them.

A system is affected if it runs Mac OS X 10.4.11 and any application uses CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource to create files that end up with insecure permissions visible to unprivileged local users.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade from Mac OS X 10.4.11 to a supported macOS version, as this vulnerability is in the OS kernel/API layer and cannot be patched in the legacy system itself; implement file permission monitoring as a compensating control if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2007-5847 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
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