dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2007-5850

HIGH · 8.8 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 →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Heap-based buffer overflow in Desktop Services in Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11 allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via a directory with a crafted .DS_Store file.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11's Desktop Services component allows arbitrary code execution when processing a specially crafted .DS_Store file in a directory. The attack is user-assisted, requiring the victim to access a malicious directory, and exploits insufficient bounds checking during .DS_Store file parsing.

MitigationUpgrade from Mac OS X 10.4.11 to a supported macOS version, as 10.4.11 is end-of-life and no longer receives security updates. Avoid opening directories from untrusted sources containing custom .DS_Store files.

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
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:M/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 Mac OS X version is 10.4.11
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The output shows exactly 10.4.11 (other versions including 10.4.10 or 10.5 are not affected)
  2. Confirm Desktop Services component is present
    Check for the existence of the DesktopServicesPriv framework or DSStore parsing binaries in /System/Library/Frameworks/
    Affected if The Desktop Services framework exists and is in use on the system (this is default on affected OS version)
  3. Identify if .DS_Store files are being processed
    Look for .DS_Store files in user-accessible directories: ls -la ~/Desktop, ls -la ~/Documents, or any directory opened in Finder
    Affected if The system reads and parses .DS_Store files from directories - this is standard Finder behavior on Mac OS X

The system is affected only if running exactly Mac OS X 10.4.11 and users can access directories containing .DS_Store files, as the vulnerability triggers during parsing of these files.

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 10.4.11 is end-of-life and no longer receives security updates. Avoid opening directories from untrusted sources containing custom .DS_Store files.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2007-5850 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