CVE-2025-65842 Privilege escalation in n/a
A local attacker can exploit flaws in the Aquarius HelperTool XPC service to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on macOS.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-65842?
CVE-2025-65842 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 3 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
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.
Weakness: CWE-266
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-65842?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Acustica-Audio Aquarius Helpertool.
How do I fix CVE-2025-65842?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-65842 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2025-65842 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-65842 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-5pfh-rw2m-9j53.