macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2024-23244

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.7.4 / 14.4 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
A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.7.4, macOS Sonoma 14.4. An app from a standard user account may be able to escalate privilege after admin user login.

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 logic flaw in macOS allows a standard user account's application to perform privilege escalation after an administrator user logs in. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability where improper restrictions permit a low-privilege process to gain elevated (root) privileges under specific conditions involving admin authentication.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied macOS security updates: macOS Monterey 12.7.4 or macOS Sonoma 14.4 (depending on your deployed OS version). This is a patch-based remediation; no custom code changes are required.

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, < 12.7.4>= 14.0, < 14.4

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
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. Check installed macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or go to Apple menu > About This Mac
    Affected if The version is 12.0 through 12.7.3, or 14.0 through 14.3 (any build below 12.7.4 or 14.4)
  2. Confirm macOS release name
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' and note whether it shows Monterey (12.x) or Sonoma (14.x)
    Affected if The system is running Monterey below 12.7.4 or Sonoma below 14.4
  3. Verify patch status via software update
    Run 'softwareupdate --list' in Terminal to check for available security updates
    Affected if A macOS security update (12.7.4 or 14.4) is available but not yet installed
  4. Identify if standard user accounts exist
    Check for non-admin user accounts via System Settings > Users & Groups or 'dscacheutil -q user'
    Affected if Standard (non-admin) user accounts exist on the system, creating the attack surface for this privilege escalation flaw

You are affected if the system runs macOS Monterey 12.0-12.7.3 or macOS Sonoma 14.0-14.3 and has standard user accounts present alongside admin accounts.

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 12.7.4 / 14.4 or later
Fixed in 12.7.414.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied macOS security updates: macOS Monterey 12.7.4 or macOS Sonoma 14.4 (depending on your deployed OS version). This is a patch-based remediation; no custom code changes are required.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS 12.7.4 (for Monterey) or macOS 14.4 (for Sonoma)

  1. Check current macOS version by clicking Apple menu > About This Mac
  2. If running macOS Monterey (12.x): upgrade to macOS 12.7.4 or later via System Preferences > Software Update
  3. If running macOS Sonoma (14.x): upgrade to macOS 14.4 or later via System Settings > Software Update
  4. Alternatively, install the latest available macOS update which includes the security fix for CVE-2024-23244
Caveat Standard OS update considerations - review app compatibility before upgrading; backup important data

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

Fix this in macOS 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-2024-23244 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-23244 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