CVE-2018-4051
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 local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the privileged helper tool of GOG Galaxy's Games, version 1.2.47 for macOS. An attacker can globally create directories and subdirectories on the root file system, as well as change the permissions of existing directories.
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 confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the privileged helper tool of GOG Galaxy's Games version 1.2.47 for macOS. The helper tool fails to properly validate filesystem operations, allowing an attacker with local access to create directories and subdirectories anywhere on the root filesystem and modify permissions of existing directories. This can be leveraged to escalate privileges by manipulating system directories.
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= 1.2.47CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Check if GOG Galaxy Games is installed on the systemLook for GOG Galaxy Games application in /Applications folder or search via Spotlight. Also check ~/Applications for user-installed copies.Affected if GOG Galaxy Games is installed and running on macOS
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Determine the installed version of GOG Galaxy GamesRight-click on GOG Galaxy Games.app in /Applications, select 'Get Info', or run: defaults read /Applications/GOG\ Galaxy\ Games.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion. Compare the version number to 1.2.47.Affected if The installed version is exactly 1.2.47
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Locate the privileged helper tool installationCheck for the helper tool at /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ or ~/Library/Application Support/ for a GOG helper component. The helper typically runs with elevated privileges.Affected if A GOG privileged helper tool is installed on the system
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Audit recent directory creation in system locationsRun: find / -type d -newer /System/Library/Fonts -mtime -30 2>/dev/null | head -50 to find recently created directories in unexpected locations. Focus on directories in /Library, /System, or root-level locations not created by macOS installers.Affected if Directories exist in system locations that were created by the GOG helper tool without user consent
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Check for unauthorized permission changes on system directoriesRun: ls -la / | head -20 and compare ownership/permissions of system directories against known baselines. Look for unexpected changes to directories owned by root or system users.Affected if System directories have modified permissions indicating manipulation by the vulnerable helper
A user is affected if GOG Galaxy Games version 1.2.47 is installed and the privileged helper tool has been used to create unauthorized directories or modify permissions on the system.
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 dataUpdate GOG Galaxy's Games to the latest patched version, which should include proper path validation and authorization checks in the privileged helper tool to prevent unauthorized filesystem modifications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4051 — 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-2018-4051 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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