CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-27938 — A logic issue was addressed with improved state management

High CVSS 7.8

A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Big Sur 11.2, Security Update 2021-001 Catalina, Security Update 2021-001 Mojave, macOS Big Sur 11.1, Security Update 2020-001 Catalina, Security Update 2020-007 Mojave. A malicious application may be able to elevate privileges.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-04-02
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
apple/platform
Weaknesses
CWE-269

Affected products

  • apple / mac_os_x

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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