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.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-65842 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-12-04 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.5 | 2.5 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| acustica-audio | aquarius_helpertool | 1.0.003 | cpe:2.3:a:acustica-audio:aquarius_helpertool:1.0.003:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://almightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/ | Exploit Third Party Advisory |