CVE-2015-5873
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 · uneditedIOGraphics in Apple OS X before 10.11 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5871, CVE-2015-5872, and CVE-2015-5890.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in IOGraphics (IOKit graphics driver) in Apple OS X before 10.11 allows an attacker with local access to corrupt memory and elevate privileges to root, or cause a denial of service through the memory corruption. The vulnerability resides in unspecified vectors within the graphics subsystem.
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<= 10.10.5CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check the installed OS X versionClick the Apple menu > About This Mac. The version number is displayed below the OS name (e.g., 10.10.5, 10.10.4, etc.). Alternatively, run 'sw_vers' in Terminal.Affected if The version shown is 10.10.5 or earlier (any version before 10.11)
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Confirm the OS X build numberRun 'uname -a' in Terminal or view System Information > Software > System Version. This shows both the OS X version and build number (e.g., 14F27 for 10.10.5).Affected if The build corresponds to an OS X version 10.10.5 or earlier
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Verify if the system has applied security update 001Check System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. Review the 'Last Security Update' date. If no update is shown or the date is before September 2015, the patch may not be applied.Affected if No security update from September 2015 or later has been installed
The environment is affected if the system runs OS X 10.10.5 or any earlier version (10.10.x through 10.9.x and below), as the vulnerability exists only in versions prior to OS X El Capitan (10.11).
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 dataApply Apple's security update for OS X El Capitan (10.11) or later to patch the IOGraphics vulnerability. As this is a local privilege escalation, ensure least-privilege user practices and monitor for local privilege escalation indicators.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5873 — 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-2015-5873 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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