CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2017-13872 — An issue was discovered in certain Apple products

High CVSS 9.3

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.

Severity
High
CVSS
9.3 (2.0)
Published
2017-11-29
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
apple/platform
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • apple / mac_os_x / 10.13.0
  • apple / mac_os_x / 10.13.1

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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