dbcve.org
macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-26707

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.4 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 issue in the handling of environment variables was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.4. A user may be able to view sensitive user information.

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

A vulnerability in macOS Monterey's handling of environment variables allowed a user to potentially view sensitive user information due to insufficient validation. The fix in version 12.4 implements improved validation for environment variable processing.

MitigationApply macOS Monterey 12.4 or later update to affected systems to remediate the environment variable validation issue.

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
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 12.0.0, < 12.4

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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. Check macOS version
    Open System Preferences > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal
    Affected if The version shown is 12.0.0, 12.0.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, or any 12.x version less than 12.4 (for example, 12.3.1)
  2. Confirm Monterey release
    Verify the macOS name is Monterey (not Big Sur, Ventura, etc.)
    Affected if The system is macOS Monterey and the version is less than 12.4

If the system runs macOS Monterey version 12.0.0 through 12.3.x (any build before 12.4), it is affected by 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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.4 or later
Fixed in 12.4
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS Monterey 12.4 or later update to affected systems to remediate the environment variable validation issue.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Monterey 12.4

  1. Back up important data before performing any system update
  2. Open System Preferences (or System Settings on macOS Ventura and later)
  3. Navigate to Software Update
  4. Click Check for Updates or allow automatic updates to install the available update
  5. Ensure macOS Monterey 12.4 is installed by verifying the macOS version in About This Mac

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-26707 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