dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-5933

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
Audio in Apple OS X before 10.11.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted audio file, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5934.

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

A memory corruption vulnerability in the audio handling component of Apple OS X versions prior to 10.11.1 allows remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution or cause a denial of service by tricking users into processing a specially crafted audio file.

MitigationUpdate affected systems to OS X 10.11.1 or later to patch the vulnerable audio parsing code.

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:<= 10.11.0

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
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 installed OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or click Apple menu > About This Mac to view the OS version
    Affected if Version is 10.11.0 or earlier (versions prior to 10.11.1)
  2. Verify CoreAudio daemon is running
    Run 'ps -ax | grep -i coreaudiod' in Terminal to confirm the CoreAudio daemon is active
    Affected if CoreAudio daemon is running on an affected OS version (10.11.0 or earlier)
  3. Check for audio file processing utilities
    Run 'ls /System/Library/Extensions/Audio*.kext' or check for afconvert/afplay utilities with 'which afconvert'
    Affected if Audio kernel extensions or utilities exist on an affected OS version
  4. Confirm audio parsing components are present
    Run 'ls /usr/lib/libAudioToolbox*' or check /System/Library/Frameworks for AudioToolbox.framework
    Affected if AudioToolbox framework is present on an affected OS version (10.11.0 or earlier)

If the system is running OS X 10.11.0 or earlier with CoreAudio and AudioToolbox components present, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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 10.11.0
Interim mitigation

Update affected systems to OS X 10.11.1 or later to patch the vulnerable audio parsing code.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

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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-2015-5933 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