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Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-6984

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
libarchive in Apple OS X before 10.11.1 allows attackers to write to arbitrary files via a crafted app that conducts an unspecified symlink attack.

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

libarchive in Apple OS X before 10.11.1 contains a vulnerability allowing a crafted application to conduct a symlink attack, enabling attackers to write to arbitrary files on the system outside the intended archive extraction path.

MitigationUpdate affected systems to OS X 10.11.1 or later which contains the patched version of libarchive.

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
None
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/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
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version returned is 10.11.0 or earlier (e.g., 10.10.5, 10.10.4, etc.)
  2. Verify libarchive library presence
    Check if libarchive exists on the system: ls -la /usr/lib/libarchive*
    Affected if The library files exist on the system (this is expected for affected OS versions)
  3. Confirm extraction functionality is in use
    Determine if any applications use libarchive for archive extraction by checking common archive handling tools: which unarchive or file /usr/lib/libarchive*
    Affected if Archive extraction tools are available and libarchive is linked (typical for OS X systems)

If the system is running OS X 10.11.0 or earlier and has libarchive present, the environment is vulnerable to symlink attacks when extracting untrusted archives.

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 which contains the patched version of libarchive.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA0.5 h
3.5 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

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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-2015-6984 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