CVE-2013-1033
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 · uneditedScreen Lock in Apple Mac OS X before 10.8.5 does not properly track sessions, which allows remote authenticated users to bypass locking by leveraging screen-sharing access.
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 screen lock mechanism in Apple Mac OS X versions prior to 10.8.5 does not properly track sessions when screen-sharing is active. This allows an authenticated remote user with screen-sharing access to bypass the lock screen protection, gaining unauthorized access to an unlocked or bypassed session.
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<= 10.8.4= 10.8.0= 10.8.1= 10.8.2= 10.8.3CVSS 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
- Low
- Authentication
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Mac OS X versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal to retrieve the installed OS versionAffected if The version displayed is 10.8.0, 10.8.1, 10.8.2, 10.8.3, or 10.8.4 (any version between 10.8.0 and 10.8.4 inclusive)
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Confirm screen-sharing is enabledCheck System Preferences > Sharing or run 'sharing -l' to list enabled sharing servicesAffected if Screen Sharing (or VNC) is listed as enabled
The system is affected if it runs Mac OS X 10.8.0 through 10.8.4 and has screen-sharing enabled, as the vulnerability allows a remote user with screen-sharing access to bypass the lock screen.
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 Mac OS X 10.8.5 or later which contains the corrected session tracking logic for the screen lock feature. Until patched, restrict or monitor screen-sharing access closely.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-1033 — 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-2013-1033 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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- 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
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