CVE-2025-65842
Apple Aquarius HelperTool Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Description
The Aquarius HelperTool (1.0.003) privileged XPC service on macOS contains multiple flaws that allow local privilege escalation. The service accepts XPC connections from any local process without validating the client's identity, and its authorization logic incorrectly calls AuthorizationCopyRights with a NULL reference, causing all authorization checks to succeed. The executeCommand:authorization:withReply: method then interpolates attacker-controlled input into NSTask and executes it with root privileges. A local attacker can exploit these weaknesses to run arbitrary commands as root, create persistent backdoors, or obtain a fully interactive root shell.
INFO
Published Date :
Dec. 3, 2025, 5:15 p.m.
Last Modified :
Dec. 18, 2025, 8:41 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
Solution
- Validate client identity for XPC connections.
- Correctly implement authorization checks.
- Sanitize all user input before execution.
- Apply vendor security patches promptly.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2025-65842.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://almightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/ | Exploit Third Party Advisory |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-65842 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-65842
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2025-65842 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2025-65842 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
Initial Analysis by [email protected]
Dec. 18, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:acustica-audio:aquarius_helpertool:1.0.003:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Added Reference Type MITRE: https://almightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/ Types: Exploit, Third Party Advisory -
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Dec. 05, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Added CWE CWE-266 -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Dec. 03, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description The Aquarius HelperTool (1.0.003) privileged XPC service on macOS contains multiple flaws that allow local privilege escalation. The service accepts XPC connections from any local process without validating the client's identity, and its authorization logic incorrectly calls AuthorizationCopyRights with a NULL reference, causing all authorization checks to succeed. The executeCommand:authorization:withReply: method then interpolates attacker-controlled input into NSTask and executes it with root privileges. A local attacker can exploit these weaknesses to run arbitrary commands as root, create persistent backdoors, or obtain a fully interactive root shell. Added Reference https://almightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/