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CVE-2025-65842

5.1 · MEDIUM

The Aquarius HelperTool (1.0.003) privileged XPC service on macOS contains multiple flaws that allow local privilege escalation.

Published Dec 3, 2025CWE-266EPSS 0.17%

Overview

CVE-2025-65842 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on December 3, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.1 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.1, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical 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.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

References

Refalmightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-65842?

CVE-2025-65842 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on December 3, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.1 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-65842?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.1, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2025-65842?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2025-65842?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2025-65842 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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