The kernel in Apple Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.4.10 does not reset the current Mach Thread Port or Thread Exception Port when executing a setuid program, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code by creating the port before launching the setuid program, then writing to the address space of the setuid process.
Weakness
The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used.
Affected Software
| Name |
Vendor |
Start Version |
End Version |
| Mac_os_x |
Apple |
10.4.0 |
10.4.10 |
Potential Mitigations
- Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
- For example, in Java, if the programmer does not explicitly initialize a variable, then the code could produce a compile-time error (if the variable is local) or automatically initialize the variable to the default value for the variable’s type. In Perl, if explicit initialization is not performed, then a default value of undef is assigned, which is interpreted as 0, false, or an equivalent value depending on the context in which the variable is accessed.
References