dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-8667

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.14.6 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 inconsistent user interface issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Mojave 10.14.6. The encryption status of a Time Machine backup may be incorrect.

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

This vulnerability in macOS Mojave 10.14.5 and earlier involves incorrect state management in the Time Machine backup user interface, causing the displayed encryption status of backups to be inaccurate. Users may believe their backup is encrypted when it is not, or vice versa, leading to incorrect assumptions about their data protection posture.

MitigationUpdate to macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or later to receive the state management fix that corrects the Time Machine encryption status display.

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:< 10.14.6

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or click Apple menu > About This Mac
    Affected if Version is 10.14.5 or earlier (less than 10.14.6)
  2. Verify Time Machine is configured
    Check if Time Machine has ever been set up by looking for /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist or running 'tmutil status'
    Affected if Time Machine has been configured on this system
  3. Check displayed encryption status in UI
    Open System Preferences > Time Machine and note what encryption status is shown for the backup drive
    Affected if UI shows an encryption status (encrypted or not encrypted)
  4. Check actual encryption status via command line
    Run 'tmutil apfs listusers /Volumes/[BackupDriveName]' or inspect the backup volume directly to see if it is actually encrypted at the filesystem level
    Affected if Actual encryption state differs from what the UI displays - this indicates the vulnerability is manifested

A system is affected if it runs macOS Mojave below 10.14.6 and has a mismatch between the Time Machine UI encryption display and the actual encryption status of the backup volume.

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 10.14.6 or later
Fixed in 10.14.6
Interim mitigation

Update to macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or later to receive the state management fix that corrects the Time Machine encryption status display.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2019-8667 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