CVE-2025-57443
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 · uneditedFrostWire 6.14.0-build-326 for macOS contains permissive entitlements (allow-dyld-environment-variables, disable-library-validation) that allow unprivileged local attackers to inject code into the FrostWire process via the DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES environment variable. This allows escalated privileges to arbitrary TCC-approved directories.
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 confidenceFrostWire 6.14.0 for macOS ships with two dangerous entitlements: 'allow-dyld-environment-variables' permits the DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES environment variable to be processed, and 'disable-library-validation' allows loading arbitrary dynamic libraries. An unprivileged local attacker can inject malicious code into the FrostWire process using DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES, inheriting the application's TCC-approved access to sensitive directories for privilege escalation.
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate FrostWire installationSearch for FrostWire.app in /Applications or ~/Applications using Finder or command line: find /Applications -name 'FrostWire.app' -type d 2>/dev/nullAffected if FrostWire.app is not found in standard locations, the application is not installed
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Determine installed FrostWire versionRight-click FrostWire.app > Get Info, or run: defaults read /Applications/FrostWire.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionStringAffected if Version is 6.14.0 (exact match to affected version)
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Extract the application entitlementsUse the codesign command to display entitlements: codesign --display --entitlements - /Applications/FrostWire.app 2>&1 | tee /tmp/frostwire_entitlements.txtAffected if Command fails or entitlements cannot be read, but the app may still be vulnerable if entitlements file exists in the bundle
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Inspect for dangerous entitlementsSearch the entitlements output/file for 'allow-dyld-environment-variables' and 'disable-library-validation': grep -E '(allow-dyld-environment-variables|disable-library-validation)' /tmp/frostwire_entitlements.txtAffected if Either entitlement is present in the output, the application is vulnerable to the DYLD injection attack described in this CVE
A user is affected if FrostWire version 6.14.0 is installed and the application bundle contains either the 'com.apple.security.cs.allow-unsigned-executable-memory' or 'allow-dyld-environment-variables' entitlement, or the 'disable-library-validation' entitlement, allowing local privilege escalation via DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES injection.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataRemove the 'com.apple.security.cs.allow-unsigned-executable-memory' or similar entitlement allowing DYLD environment variables, and remove 'com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation'. Re-sign and rebuild the application with restrictive entitlements matching only the minimum required functionality.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-57443 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-57443 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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