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Missing AuthenticationWeakness · CWE-306

CVE-2026-24068

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 VSL privileged helper does utilize NSXPC for IPC. The implementation of the "shouldAcceptNewConnection" function, which is used by the NSXPC framework to validate if a client should be allowed to connect to the XPC listener, does not validate clients at all. This means that any process can connect to this service using the configured protocol. A malicious process is able to call all the functions defined in the corresponding HelperToolProtocol. No validation is performed in the functions "writeReceiptFile" and “runUninstaller” of the HelperToolProtocol. This allows an attacker to write files to any location with any data as well as execute any file with any arguments. Any process can call these functions because of the missing XPC client validation described before. The abuse of the missing endpoint validation leads to privilege escalation.

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 VSL privileged helper uses NSXPC for IPC but fails to validate connecting clients in its shouldAcceptNewConnection function, allowing any local process to establish connections. The writeReceiptFile and runUninstaller protocol functions lack additional validation checks, enabling arbitrary file writes to any location with any data and arbitrary command execution with any arguments, leading to privilege escalation.

MitigationImplement code signing verification in shouldAcceptNewConnection to validate connecting clients, and add input validation and authorization checks to the writeReceiptFile and runUninstaller functions before processing requests.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Locate the VSL privileged helper installation
    Search common locations for privileged helpers: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/, ~/Library/Application Support/, or check the main VSL application's contents for a helper bundle. Look for files with 'VSL' or 'PrivilegedHelper' in the name.
    Affected if The VSL privileged helper binary exists on the system.
  2. Identify the product owning the VSL helper
    Check the helper's info.plist or bundle identifier, or examine the parent application's name and bundle ID that installed this helper.
    Affected if The helper belongs to a product that uses NSXPC services for privileged operations.
  3. Determine the installed helper version
    Right-click the helper binary, select Get Info, or use 'mdls' command to read version metadata: mdls -name kMDItemVersion /path/to/helper
    Affected if The installed version matches or precedes the vulnerable version range for this CVE.
  4. Verify the helper is loaded and running
    Check running privileged processes: sudo launchctl list | grep -i vsl or ps aux | grep -i helper
    Affected if The VSL privileged helper is actively running as a privileged process.
  5. Inspect XPC listener configuration
    Examine the helper's Info.plist for SMAuthorizedClients or check if the binary contains the shouldAcceptNewConnection method without code signing validation.
    Affected if The helper accepts XPC connections without validating client code signatures.

If the VSL privileged helper is installed and running without code signing verification in its XPC connection handler, the system is vulnerable to local privilege escalation via arbitrary file writes or command execution.

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

Implement code signing verification in shouldAcceptNewConnection to validate connecting clients, and add input validation and authorization checks to the writeReceiptFile and runUninstaller functions before processing requests.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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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-2026-24068 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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