dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-8855

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.15 or later.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 access issue was addressed with additional sandbox restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Catalina 10.15. A malicious application may be able to access restricted files.

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 is a sandbox bypass vulnerability in macOS where a malicious application could access restricted files that should be protected by the sandbox. The issue was addressed by adding additional sandbox restrictions in macOS Catalina 10.15.

MitigationUpdate affected macOS systems to Catalina 10.15 or later to apply the sandbox restrictions that close this vulnerability.

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:< 10.15

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/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. Determine installed macOS version
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The command returns a version number lower than 10.15 (for example, 10.14.6, 10.14.5, etc.)
  2. Confirm version with system profiler
    Run: system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType | grep 'System Version'
    Affected if The displayed version shows anything before macOS 10.15 or Catalina
  3. Verify build number matches pre-Catalina
    Run: uname -r and check if the Darwin kernel version corresponds to versions before macOS 10.15
    Affected if Kernel version indicates an operating system older than Catalina

The system is affected if the installed macOS version is any release before 10.15 (Catalina), since versions prior to Catalina lack the additional sandbox restrictions that close this vulnerability.

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 10.15 or later
Fixed in 10.15
Interim mitigation

Update affected macOS systems to Catalina 10.15 or later to apply the sandbox restrictions that close this vulnerability.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-8855 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2019-8855 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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