CVE-2015-5889
rsh in the remote_cmds component in Apple OS X before 10.11 allows local users to obtain root privileges via vectors involving environment…
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 5.1%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 7.6% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
rsh in the remote_cmds component in Apple OS X before 10.11 allows local users to obtain root privileges via vectors involving environment variables.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. 2 references of the record are tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits5
Metasploit modules1 module
- Mac OS X 10.9.5 / 10.10.5 - rsh/libmalloc Privilege Escalation (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/osx/local/rsh_libmallocRank normaldisclosed 1 Oct 2015
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Apple Mac OSX 10.9.5/10.10.5 - 'rsh/libmalloc' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 38540local, osxpublished 27 Oct 2015Verified
- Apple Mac OSX 10.9.5/10.10.5 - 'rsh/libmalloc' Local Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 38371local, osxpublished 1 Oct 2015Verified
References tagged exploit2 references
- 38540 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 38371 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By apple
- 2 months later
· 2 months later
Published
- 9 years later
· 9 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | High7.2 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 5.1% · top 7.6% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
10
- http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/osx/local/rsh_libmalloc (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1033703 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- APPLE-SA-2015-09-30-3 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_APPLEx_transferred
- 20151001 Mac OS X local root (rsh/libmalloc) (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/133826/issetugid-rsh-libmalloc-OS-X-Local-Root.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://support.apple.com/HT205267 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 38540 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 76908 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 38371 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/134087/Mac-OS-X-10.9.5-10.10.5-rsh-libmalloc-Privilege-Escalation.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2015-5835 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2015-5889)Record last updated .