dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2017-7077

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.12.6 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 is affected. The issue involves the "IOFireWireFamily" component. It allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) 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

Memory corruption vulnerability in IOFireWireFamily (FireWire driver) on macOS prior to 10.13 allows a locally executing crafted application to either execute arbitrary code with elevated (kernel) privileges or cause a denial of service via memory corruption.

MitigationUpgrade macOS to version 10.13 or later to obtain the patched IOFireWireFamily 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:<= 10.12.6

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 macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal to obtain the installed macOS version
    Affected if Version is 10.12.6 or lower (the driver component was vulnerable in versions prior to 10.13)
  2. Verify IOFireWireFamily kernel extension exists
    Check for the presence of IOFireWireFamily.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/ using 'ls -la /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireFamily.kext'
    Affected if The kernel extension exists on the system (the vulnerability resides in this component)
  3. Confirm IOFireWireFamily is loaded
    Run 'kextstat | grep -i IOFireWireFamily' to check if the driver is currently loaded in the kernel
    Affected if The driver is loaded and active (the vulnerability can be triggered when the driver is operational)
  4. Check FireWire hardware presence
    Run 'system_profiler SPFireWireDataType' to enumerate FireWire ports and connected devices
    Affected if FireWire hardware is detected on the system (the attack surface requires FireWire support to be available)

The environment is affected if macOS version is 10.12.6 or lower AND the IOFireWireFamily driver is present and loaded, allowing a locally executing malicious application to exploit the memory corruption 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 10.12.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade macOS to version 10.13 or later to obtain the patched IOFireWireFamily component.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2017-7077 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