CVE-2013-5189
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 · uneditedApple Mac OS X before 10.9 does not preserve a certain administrative system-preferences setting across software updates, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass intended access restrictions in opportunistic circumstances by leveraging an unintended security configuration after the completion of an update.
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 · moderate confidenceMac OS X before 10.9 fails to preserve certain administrative system-preferences settings during software updates, causing security configurations to reset to less restrictive defaults. This creates an opportunity for context-dependent attackers to bypass intended access restrictions after an update completes.
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<= 10.8.5= 10.8.0= 10.8.1= 10.8.2= 10.8.3= 10.8.4= 10.8.5CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/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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Identify the installed Mac OS X versionRun 'sw_vers' in Terminal and note the BuildVersion and ProductVersion, or check System Preferences > About This MacAffected if The version is 10.8.0, 10.8.1, 10.8.2, 10.8.3, 10.8.4, or 10.8.5 (any 10.8.x release)
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Determine if Software Update has been runCheck /var/log/install.log for recent software update entries, or review the Software Update history in System Preferences > App StoreAffected if Software updates have been applied to a 10.8.x system after initial setup or configuration changes
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Review current security preference settingsOpen System Preferences > Security & Privacy and examine settings under the General, FileVault, and Firewall tabs. Compare against documented organizational baselinesAffected if Security settings (such as firewall state, Gatekeeper preferences, or authentication requirements) are found in a less restrictive state than expected
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Check for unexpected user accounts or privilege changesOpen System Preferences > Users & Groups and verify only expected administrator accounts exist with expected privilege levelsAffected if New administrator accounts appear, or existing standard users have been elevated to administrator without prior knowledge
A system is affected if it runs any Mac OS X 10.8.x version and has undergone software updates, with security preferences now in a less restrictive state than originally configured.
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 10.9 or later, and manually audit and reapply security preferences after any software update on older versions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-5189 — 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-2013-5189 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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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.
- 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