CVE-2025-49173 — macOS 10.9 Local Root Privilege Escalation (Research)

Status: Unofficial / Research-Based
Platform: macOS Mavericks (10.9)
Impact: Local Privilege Escalation → Root
Severity: High (Local)

This repository contains a proof-of-concept (PoC) security research project focused on a local root privilege escalation vulnerability affecting macOS Mavericks (10.9).
The CVE identifier used here is unofficial and for academic demonstration purposes only.

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Overview

This research analyzes a privilege escalation attack vector that allows a local unprivileged user to escalate permissions and obtain root-level access under specific misconfiguration and authorization handling conditions in legacy macOS systems.

The project focuses on:

• macOS authorization mechanisms
• Legacy privilege boundaries
• User-to-root attack surface analysis

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Affected Systems

• macOS Mavericks 10.9
• Other legacy macOS versions may be affected (not fully tested)

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Vulnerability Class

• Local Privilege Escalation (LPE)
• Authorization Misconfiguration
• Improper Privilege Boundary Enforcement

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Proof of Concept (PoC)

This repository includes:

• A controlled PoC implementation
• Step-by-step privilege escalation flow
• Logs demonstrating successful root-level execution

⚠️ The PoC is provided for educational and defensive security research only.

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Mitigation & Recommendations

• Disable unused legacy authorization services
• Apply strict file and binary permission hardening
• Monitor abnormal privilege transitions
• Avoid using unsupported legacy macOS versions in production environments

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Legal Disclaimer

This project is intended strictly for educational, research, and defensive security purposes.

• No warranty is provided
• The authors are not responsible for any misuse
• All testing was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment

Any use of this project for unauthorized access or malicious activity is strictly prohibited.

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