{"id":243360,"date":"2018-01-02T17:10:08","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T15:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=243360"},"modified":"2018-01-02T17:10:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T15:10:44","slug":"a-15-year-old-macos-security-flaw-allows-any-user-root-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/243360-a-15-year-old-macos-security-flaw-allows-any-user-root-access.html","title":{"rendered":"A 15 year-old MacOS security flaw allows any user root access"},"content":{"rendered":"

A “hobbyist hacker” who calls themselves Siguza on Twitter has posted the details of a security flaw in MacOS that allows any user on a machine to become the super administrator, or root, WccfTech reported<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the\u00a0bug is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in an extension of the macOS kernel called IOHIDFamily.<\/p>\n

The vulnerability lets an\u00a0attacker install a root shell or execute arbitrary code, and appears to be able to disable\u00a0System Integrity Protection and Apple Mobile File Integrity, which guard against malware.<\/p>\n

Siguza said that the flaw has been around for at least 15 years and all versions of MacOS are affected.<\/p>\n

Responding to criticism for not reaching out to Apple, the hacker explained that there is nothing to fear unless you are in a situation where an attacker might have physical access to your machine.<\/p>\n

They also said that Apple has been in contact with them and is working on a patch.<\/p>\n

\n

Yeah, I know. But they have actually been very few, and most of them seemed to be looking for a serious debate, so I'm just trying to give them that. The overwhelming majority of responses have been positive, and Apple engineers themselves don't seem too sad about it…<\/p>\n

— @siguza@infosec.space (@s1guza) January 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n