CVE-2017-13872
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS High Sierra before Security Update 2017...
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
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.
- Record
CVE-2017-13872- CVSS 3.0
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 9.3 High
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-287
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
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.
- Record
CVE-2017-13872- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2017-5387 No score
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.
- Record
EUVD-2017-5387- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-69wx-h62r-474c
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS High Sierra before Security Update 2017...
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.
- Record
GHSA-69wx-h62r-474c- CVSS 3.0
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-287
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Exploit-DB | Apple macOS 10.13.1 (High Sierra) - 'Blank Root' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) | 2017-11-30 |
| Exploit-DB | Apple macOS 10.13.1 (High Sierra) - 'Blank Root' Local Privilege Escalation | 2017-11-28 |
| Metasploit | Apple Remote Desktop Root Vulnerability | |
| Metasploit | Mac OS X Root Privilege Escalation | 2017-11-29 |
| PoC in GitHub | giovannidispoto/CVE-2017-13872-Patch | 2017-11-30 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, Exploit-DB, GitHub Advisories, Metasploit, NVD, PoC in GitHub |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2017-13872 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.1) in Apple Mac Os X, published November 29, 2017. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 36.8%, the 98th percentile. No source names a fixed version.