CVE-2017-13905

Local privilege escalation via Auto Unlock race

Published Dec 23, 2021 · Updated Aug 5, 2024

Race condition in Auto Unlock on macOS, tvOS, and watchOS allows local users to gain elevated privileges through a malicious application. Apple has not disclosed which Auto Unlock shared state races or which validation was missing before the privileged operation. Exploitation requires local application execution; the resulting privilege level and permitted operations are not publicly specified.

CVSS severity8.1
High
EPSS probability0.91%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Race condition in Auto Unlock on macOS, tvOS, and watchOS allows local users to gain elevated privileges through a malicious application. Apple has not disclosed which Auto Unlock shared state races or which validation was missing before the privileged operation. Exploitation requires local application execution; the resulting privilege level and permitted operations are not publicly specified.

The record

CVE
CVE-2017-13905
Published
Dec 23, 2021
Updated
Aug 5, 2024
Vendor
Apple
Product
tvOS
Classifications
CWE-362, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 23, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 5, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <11.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

Apple · tvOSversion=unspecified <11.2
Apple · macOSversion=unspecified <10.13; version=unspecified <11.2
Apple · watchOSversion=unspecified <4.2

Published CVSS scores

6.8NIST NVDAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
8.1NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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