CVE-2018-4170
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 issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS before 10.13.4 is affected. The issue involves the "Admin Framework" component. It allows local users to discover a password by listing a process and its arguments during sysadminctl execution.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in macOS Admin Framework (sysadminctl) allows local users to discover passwords by viewing process arguments. When sysadminctl is invoked with password arguments, these credentials are exposed in the process list, enabling any local user to retrieve sensitive authentication material via standard process inspection tools like 'ps'.
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< 10.13.4CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check macOS versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' or click Apple menu > About This Mac to see the installed macOS versionAffected if Version is lower than 10.13.4 (for example, 10.13.3, 10.13.2, etc.)
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Inspect running sysadminctl processesRun 'ps aux | grep sysadminctl' to see if sysadminctl is currently running and examine its command-line argumentsAffected if sysadminctl is running with password or credential arguments visible in the process list
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Review recent process historyUse 'history' or shell history logs (if available) to check for past sysadminctl commands that may have included password arguments on the command lineAffected if Past sysadminctl commands with password arguments are found in command history
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Check system logs for sysadminctl usageRun 'log show --predicate 'process == "sysadminctl"' --last 24h' to review recent sysadminctl activity in system logsAffected if Log entries show sysadminctl was invoked with password arguments
A system is affected if it runs macOS versions lower than 10.13.4 AND sysadminctl has been used with passwords passed as command-line arguments.
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 data10.13.4
Apply macOS security update 10.13.4 or later, which addresses the Admin Framework password exposure. Alternatively, avoid using passwords as command-line arguments with sysadminctl until the patch is applied.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4170 — 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-2018-4170 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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