Persistent root access via sudoers entry injection
Published Aug 26, 2026 · Updated Aug 28, 2026
Local privilege escalation in Admin By Request for Mac 5.2.2 and earlier allows local users to gain persistent root access. The macOS client insufficiently validates data written to the sudoers file, allowing attacker-controlled entries to survive the elevation session. A low-privileged endpoint account and programmatic exploitation are required, and the flaw depends on the related XPC vulnerability.
Summary
What happened
Local privilege escalation in Admin By Request for Mac 5.2.2 and earlier allows local users to gain persistent root access. The macOS client insufficiently validates data written to the sudoers file, allowing attacker-controlled entries to survive the elevation session. A low-privileged endpoint account and programmatic exploitation are required, and the flaw depends on the related XPC vulnerability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-78237
- Published
- Aug 26, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 28, 2026
- Vendor
- Admin By Request
- Product
- Admin By Request
- Classifications
- T1548.003
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 26, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.2.2 and below
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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