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Incorrect AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-863

CVE-2025-4960

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The com.epson.InstallNavi.helper tool, deployed with the EPSON printer driver installer, contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability due to multiple flaws in its implementation. It fails to properly authenticate clients over the XPC protocol and does not correctly enforce macOS’s authorization model, exposing privileged functionality to untrusted users. Although it invokes the AuthorizationCopyRights API, it does so using overly permissive custom rights that it registers in the system’s authorization database (/var/db/auth.db). These rights can be requested and granted by the authorization daemon to any local user, regardless of privilege level. As a result, an attacker can exploit the vulnerable service to perform privileged operations such as executing arbitrary commands or installing system components without requiring administrative credentials.

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 · high confidence

The com.epson.InstallNavi.helper tool in EPSON printer driver installers contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper XPC client authentication and weak enforcement of macOS authorization. The helper registers overly permissive custom rights in /var/db/auth.db that can be granted to any local user, allowing unprivileged attackers to execute arbitrary commands or install system components without admin credentials.

MitigationRemove or disable the vulnerable EPSON InstallNavi helper tool from affected systems and audit/remove the overly permissive custom authorization rights from the system's authorization database to prevent exploitation.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 if EPSON InstallNavi helper tool is present
    Search for the helper executable: find /Library/Application\ Support/EPSON -name '*InstallNavi*helper*' 2>/dev/null OR ls -la /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ 2>/dev/null | grep -i epson
    Affected if The helper tool exists in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ or /Library/Application Support/EPSON directories
  2. Inspect authorization database for EPSON custom rights
    Run: sudo authorizationdb read | grep -A5 -i epson OR check /var/db/auth.db directly using: sudo sqlite3 /var/db/auth.db "SELECT * FROM rights WHERE key LIKE '%epson%' OR key LIKE '%InstallNavi%';"
    Affected if Custom authorization rights related to com.epson.InstallNavi exist in the authorization database
  3. Verify who holds the permissive EPSON rights
    Run: sudo sqlite3 /var/db/auth.db "SELECT * FROM acl;" and examine entries containing epson or InstallNavi, or use: sudo authorizationdb read com.epson.InstallNavi.helper 2>/dev/null
    Affected if The ACL entries show 'allow' permissions granted to 'everyone', 'anyuser', or have missing/improper authorization class restrictions (e.g., missing 'authenticate-admin' or similar restrictions)
  4. Check for recent EPSON driver installer activity
    Review /Library/Logs/EPSON/ or ~/Library/Logs/EPSON/ for recent InstallNavi logs, or check: ls -lat /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ 2>/dev/null | head -20
    Affected if Recent installation activity involving the InstallNavi helper tool is found within the past months

If the InstallNavi helper tool is installed AND overly permissive custom authorization rights exist in auth.db that grant execute permissions to any local user without proper admin authentication, the system is vulnerable to local privilege escalation via this CVE.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remove or disable the vulnerable EPSON InstallNavi helper tool from affected systems and audit/remove the overly permissive custom authorization rights from the system's authorization database to prevent exploitation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,150
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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-2025-4960 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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