# CVE-2019-13013: Privilege escalation in Little Snitch

> A local attacker can exploit the privileged helper tool's XPC interface to list directories and copy files as root, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 23 Aug 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rwrf-wv59-rjfv

## What is CVE-2019-13013?

CVE-2019-13013 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Little Snitch, published on 23 Aug 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Little Snitch versions 4.3.0 to 4.3.2 have a local privilege escalation vulnerability in their privileged helper tool. The privileged helper tool implements an XPC interface which is available to any process and allows directory listings and copying files as root.

Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-13013?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Obdev Little Snitch.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-13013?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-13013 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-13013 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-13013 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Little Snitch

- [CVE-2020-13095](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13095/): Privilege escalation in Little Snitch (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-8661](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8661/): Memory corruption in Little Snitch version 3.0 through 3.6.1 (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2017-2675](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-2675/): Privilege escalation in Little Snitch (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-13014](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13014/): Little Snitch versions 4.4.0 fixes a vulnerability in a privileged helper tool. (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-13013 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-13013 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Little Snitch, published on 23 Aug 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-13013 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Little Snitch. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13013/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13013/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-13013
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-13013
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-13013

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13013/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.