dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-3772

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-2015-3769 and CVE-2015-3771.

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 confidence

IOFireWireFamily kernel driver in 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 Apple's FireWire subsystem affecting a different code path than the related CVEs.

MitigationApply Apple security update OS X 10.10.5 or later to patch the IOFireWireFamily vulnerability. As this is a local privilege escalation requiring local access, ensure untrusted users do not have local shell access to vulnerable systems.

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. Check the installed OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or go to Apple menu > About This Mac > Version
    Affected if The version displayed is 10.10.4 or earlier (10.10.0 through 10.10.4)
  2. Verify the kernel extension for FireWire is loaded
    Run 'kextstat | grep -i firewire' in Terminal to list loaded FireWire kernel extensions
    Affected if Any IOFireWireFamily kernel extension appears in the loaded list on a vulnerable OS version
  3. Confirm FireWire framework availability
    Run 'system_profiler SPFireWireDataType' to query the FireWire subsystem status
    Affected if FireWire devices or the FireWire framework is detected on a system running OS X 10.10.4 or earlier

A system is affected if it runs OS X 10.10.4 or earlier and has the IOFireWireFamily driver loaded or FireWire framework available for exploitation.

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 security update OS X 10.10.5 or later to patch the IOFireWireFamily vulnerability. As this is a local privilege escalation requiring local access, ensure untrusted users do not have local shell access to vulnerable systems.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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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-2015-3772 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