dbcve.org
macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-32801

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.5 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
This issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.5. An app may be able to gain root privileges.

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 local privilege escalation vulnerability in macOS Monterey that allows a malicious application to bypass authorization checks and gain root privileges. The issue was addressed with improved validation checks in macOS Monterey 12.5.

MitigationApply macOS Monterey 12.5 or later security update to affected systems to remediate the privilege escalation 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
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 12.0, < 12.5

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checks

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

  1. Determine installed macOS version
    Run the command 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal, or click the Apple menu and select About This Mac
    Affected if The version displayed is 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, or 12.4 (any version from 12.0 up to but not including 12.5)
  2. Confirm macOS Monterey lineage
    Verify the version number starts with 12, which indicates macOS Monterey
    Affected if The system is running macOS Monterey versions 12.0 through 12.4

The environment is affected if it runs macOS Monterey version 12.0 through 12.4, as the vulnerability was patched in version 12.5

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 12.5 or later
Fixed in 12.5
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS Monterey 12.5 or later security update to affected systems to remediate the privilege escalation vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Monterey 12.5

  1. Check your current macOS version by clicking the Apple menu and selecting About This Mac
  2. Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup method before updating
  3. Open System Preferences and click Software Update, or click the Apple menu and select System Preferences > Software Update
  4. Click Update Now or Upgrade Now to install macOS Monterey 12.5
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation and restart your Mac when prompted

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

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-32801 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