CVE-2018-4296
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 · uneditedThis issue is fixed in macOS Mojave 10.14. A permissions issue existed in DiskArbitration. This was addressed with additional ownership checks.
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 permissions issue existed in DiskArbitration, a macOS framework that manages disk mount/unmount operations. The vulnerability allowed unauthorized access to disk operations due to insufficient ownership validation. This was addressed with additional ownership checks in the fix.
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= 10.14CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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' in Terminal or check System Preferences > AboutAffected if The version shows 10.14.x (Mojave)
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Confirm DiskArbitration framework presenceVerify /System/Library/Frameworks/DiskArbitration.framework exists - this is a built-in macOS framework that cannot be disabledAffected if The framework exists (it is present by default on all macOS installations)
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Verify ownership validation behaviorThis is a vulnerability in the DiskArbitration framework's internal ownership validation logic. No user-accessible config exists to check this - the flaw is in the framework code itself.Affected if Running macOS 10.14 with the vulnerable framework version
If the system is running macOS 10.14.x (Mojave), the environment is affected because the DiskArbitration framework contains the ownership validation flaw.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to macOS Mojave 10.14 or later. For systems that cannot upgrade, restrict physical access and monitor for unauthorized disk manipulation attempts.
macOS Mojave 10.14 or later
- Back up all important data before proceeding with the system upgrade
- Upgrade to macOS Mojave 10.14 or later to address the DiskArbitration permissions vulnerability
- After upgrading, verify the system is running the fixed version by checking About This Mac
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4296 — 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-2018-4296 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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