dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-7016

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
85/100
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
The MCX Application Restrictions component in Apple OS X before 10.11.1, when Managed Configuration is enabled, mishandles provisioning profiles, which allows attackers to bypass intended entitlement restrictions and gain privileges via a crafted developer-signed app.

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 MCX Application Restrictions component in OS X before 10.11.1 mishandles provisioning profiles when Managed Configuration is enabled, allowing a crafted developer-signed application to bypass intended entitlement restrictions and gain elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade to OS X 10.11.1 or later to patch the vulnerable MCX Application Restrictions component.

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
High
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:H/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 to retrieve the exact OS X version number
    Affected if Version returned is 10.11.0 or any lower version (e.g., 10.10.x, 10.9.x)
  2. Confirm Managed Configuration (MCX) is active
    Check for active configuration profiles by running 'profiles -P' in Terminal, or inspect /var/db/ConfigurationProfiles/ for installed profiles
    Affected if One or more management profiles are installed and active on the system
  3. Identify if Application Restrictions are configured
    Examine installed profiles for the 'com.apple.applicationrestrictions' payload type using 'profiles -P' or by inspecting the contents of the ConfigurationProfiles directory
    Affected if A profile containing Application Restrictions payload is installed and enabled

System is vulnerable if running OS X 10.11.0 or earlier AND has Managed Configuration profiles with Application Restrictions enabled

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 patch the vulnerable MCX Application Restrictions component.

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

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-7016 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2015-7016 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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