dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2017-13858

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-12-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.13.2 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS before 10.13.2 is affected. The issue involves the "IOKit" component. It allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context via a crafted 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 · moderate confidence

A vulnerability in the IOKit framework in macOS prior to 10.13.2 allows a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The IOKit component, which handles kernel-level hardware interactions, fails to properly validate or sanitize inputs, enabling a crafted app to escape sandbox restrictions and run code in a privileged context.

MitigationUpdate macOS to version 10.13.2 or later to apply the security patch that addresses this IOKit vulnerability.

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:< 10.13.2

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 macOS version
    Click Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal
    Affected if Version displayed is earlier than 10.13.2 (such as 10.13.1, 10.13.0, 10.12.x, or earlier)
  2. Verify IOKit framework presence
    Run 'ls -la /System/Library/Frameworks/IOKit.framework' in Terminal
    Affected if The framework directory exists (this confirms the component is present and could be exploitable if version check fails)
  3. Confirm unpatched kernel revision
    Run 'uname -r' in Terminal to get the kernel release version; for macOS 10.13.x, unpatched versions show 17.x.x before the 10.13.2 security update
    Affected if Kernel version is 17.x.x from macOS 10.13.0 or 10.13.1 (the update to 10.13.2 changed the kernel revision to 17.2.0 or later)

If the macOS version is any build prior to 10.13.2 and the IOKit framework is present, the environment is vulnerable to this privilege escalation flaw.

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 10.13.2 or later
Fixed in 10.13.2
Interim mitigation

Update macOS to version 10.13.2 or later to apply the security patch that addresses this IOKit vulnerability.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

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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-2017-13858 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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