CVE-2018-4046
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 · uneditedAn exploitable denial-of-service vulnerability exists in the helper service of Clean My Mac X, version 4.04, due to improper input validation. A user with local access can use this vulnerability to terminate a privileged helper application. An attacker would need local access to the machine for a successful exploit.
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 confidenceClean My Mac X version 4.04 contains a helper service with improper input validation that allows a locally authenticated user to send specially crafted input causing the privileged helper application to terminate, resulting in denial of service.
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= 4.04CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Clean My Mac X is installedCheck for the application in /Applications/ folder or use Spotlight (Cmd+Space) to search for 'Clean My Mac X'Affected if The application is not present on the system, this CVE does not apply
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Identify installed version of Clean My Mac XRight-click Clean My Mac X in /Applications, select 'Get Info', or run: defaults read /Applications/CleanMyMac\ X.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionStringAffected if Version equals 4.04 exactly - this is the affected version per the CVE
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Locate the helper service componentThe helper service is typically installed in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ or ~/Library/Application Support/CleanMyMac X/. Check for files with 'CleanMyMac' in the name in these locationsAffected if The helper tool is present - this indicates the vulnerable component exists on the system
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Verify helper service is running (optional context)Open Activity Monitor and search for 'cleanmymac' helper processes, or run: ps aux | grep -i cleanmymacAffected if The helper service is actively running - the denial of service condition could be triggered if specially crafted input is sent
You are affected if Clean My Mac X version 4.04 is installed AND the helper service component is present on the system, as the vulnerability resides in the privileged helper tool's input validation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply vendor patch/updated version of Clean My Mac X when available. Limit local access to machines with this software installed as the exploit requires local access.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4046 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-4046 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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