dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-5945

HIGH · 7.2 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
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
The Sandbox subsystem in Apple OS X before 10.11.1 allows local users to gain privileges via vectors involving NVRAM parameters.

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

The Sandbox subsystem in Apple OS X before 10.11.1 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. Local users can exploit NVRAM parameter handling to bypass sandbox restrictions and gain elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade to OS X 10.11.1 or later to apply Apple's security patch for the Sandbox 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
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
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 installed OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal
    Affected if The version returned is 10.11.0 or lower (any build of 10.11.0 or any 10.10.x version)
  2. Verify Sandbox subsystem is active
    Check if the sandboxd process is running: 'ps -ax | grep sandboxd'
    Affected if Sandbox is disabled (sandboxd not running), as the vulnerability requires an active sandbox to bypass
  3. Inspect NVRAM parameters for anomalies
    Run 'nvram -xp' to export all NVRAM variables in XML format and review for unexpected or custom parameters
    Affected if Any non-standard NVRAM variables exist that were not set by the system administrator
  4. Check for unexpected privilege escalation
    Review system logs for sandbox violations or unusual process execution: 'log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.security.sandbox"' --last 24h'
    Affected if Logs show sandbox bypass events or processes running with elevated privileges that should be sandboxed

You are affected if running OS X 10.11.0 or earlier AND the Sandbox subsystem is enabled, as the vulnerability exploits NVRAM parameter handling within an active sandbox to escalate privileges.

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

Upgrade to OS X 10.11.1 or later to apply Apple's security patch for the Sandbox subsystem.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2015-5945 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