CVE-2025-65842

low-risk
Published 2025-12-03

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.

Do I need to act?

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0.03% chance of exploitation
EPSS score — low exploit probability
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Not on CISA KEV list
No confirmed active exploitation reported to CISA
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Patch status unknown
Check vendor advisories for fix availability and mitigation guidance
5
CVSS 5.1/10 Medium
LOCAL / LOW complexity

Affected Products (1)

Aquarius Helpertool

Affected Vendors

22
/ 100
low-risk
Severity 17/34 · Moderate
Exploitability 0/34 · Minimal
Exposure 5/34 · Minimal