dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-3769

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-08-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.10.4 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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
IOFireWireFamily in Apple OS X before 10.10.5 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-3771 and CVE-2015-3772.

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

IOFireWireFamily kernel extension in Apple OS X before 10.10.5 contains a memory corruption vulnerability that can be exploited by local users to escalate privileges to root or cause a denial of service. This is a kernel-level flaw in the FireWire (IEEE 1394) driver component.

MitigationApply Apple OS X 10.10.5 security update (or later) which includes the patched IOFireWireFamily component to remediate this vulnerability.

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:<= 10.10.4

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
Complete

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

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. Determine your OS X version
    Click Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal. Look for the version number (e.g., 10.10.3, 10.10.4, 10.10.5)
    Affected if The reported version is 10.10.4 or earlier (10.10.0 through 10.10.4)
  2. Verify IOFireWireFamily kernel extension presence
    Run 'kextstat | grep -i firewire' in Terminal to list loaded FireWire-related kernel extensions
    Affected if The IOFireWireFamily kext appears in the output, indicating the driver is loaded into the kernel
  3. Confirm FireWire hardware or service is active
    Check System Information > FireWire, or run 'system_profiler SPFireWireDataType' in Terminal
    Affected if FireWire ports or connected devices are detected, meaning the vulnerable driver code path could be triggered

You are affected if your OS X version is 10.10.4 or earlier AND the IOFireWireFamily kernel extension is loaded (which typically occurs when FireWire hardware is present or has been used on the system).

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 10.10.4
Interim mitigation

Apply Apple OS X 10.10.5 security update (or later) which includes the patched IOFireWireFamily component to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
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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-2015-3769 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