Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, a new vulnerability has arisen that puts macOS users of Mozilla VPN at risk. The vulnerability, known as CVE-2025-5687, allows for privilege escalation from a regular user to root, leading to potential system compromise or data leakage. As VPNs are commonly used for protection and privacy, this vulnerability could have far-reaching implications for individual and corporate users alike, making it a matter of high concern.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-5687
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: User
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Mozilla VPN | 2.28.0 and earlier (macOS)
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability manifests itself in an error in the way Mozilla VPN on macOS handles permissions. An attacker with low-level access to the system can exploit this flaw to escalate their privileges from a normal user to the root user. As the root user has the highest level of system privileges, this allows the attacker to execute commands with root privileges, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
While the exact code to exploit this vulnerability is not available due to ethical considerations, a conceptual example would involve the attacker using a shell command to exploit the vulnerability and escalate their privileges. This could look something like this:
$ echo 'echo "$(whoami) ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >&3' | DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE=/etc/sudoers newgrp; sudo -sIn this conceptual example, the attacker is attempting to write to the /etc/sudoers file, which controls who can run what commands as root through sudo. If successful, this would allow the attacker to run any command as root without needing a password.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are urged to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as temporary mitigation. It is important to stay updated with patches and updates from Mozilla to ensure the security and privacy of your data.
