CVE-2017-13872
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS High Sierra before Security Update 2017-001 is affected. The issue involves the…
- 8.1HighCVSS base score
- 36.8%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 1.5% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 4Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS High Sierra before Security Update 2017-001 is affected. The issue involves the "Directory Utility" component. It allows attackers to obtain administrator access without a password via certain interactions involving entry of the root user name.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 2 Metasploit modules and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. 2 references of the record are tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits6
Metasploit modules2 modules
- Mac OS X Root Privilege Escalation (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/osx/local/root_no_passwordRank excellentdisclosed 29 Nov 2017
- Apple Remote Desktop Root Vulnerability (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
auxiliary/scanner/vnc/ard_root_pwRank normal
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Apple macOS 10.13.1 (High Sierra) - 'Blank Root' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 43201local, macospublished 30 Nov 2017Verified
- Apple macOS 10.13.1 (High Sierra) - 'Blank Root' Local Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 43248local, macospublished 28 Nov 2017Verified
References tagged exploit2 references
- 43201 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 43248 (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
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 7 years later
· 7 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 | 3.0 | High8.1 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 36.8% · top 1.5% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.1.
Affected products
macOS High Sierra
- affected macOS High Sierra
References
10
- https://objective-see.com/blog/blog_0x24.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://support.apple.com/HT208331 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://support.apple.com/HT208315 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/macos-bug-lets-you-log-in-as-admin-with-no-password-required/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1039875 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 43201 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/pull/9302 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 43248 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 101981 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://www.wired.com/story/macos-update-undoes-apple-root-bug-patch/ (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-2017-5387 (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-2017-13872)Record last updated .