CVE-2018-4037
Description
The CleanMyMac X software contains an exploitable privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper input validation. An attacker with local access can use this vulnerability to modify the file system as root.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Local privilege escalation vulnerability in CleanMyMac X's helper tool allows arbitrary file system modifications as root due to improper input validation.
Vulnerability
CleanMyMac X versions including 4.04 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability in the helper tool's removeDiagnosticLogs function. The function constructs a command using erase and --all arguments passed to /usr/bin/log without proper input validation [1]. This allows a local attacker to manipulate the file system as root by exploiting improper command construction [1].
Exploitation
An attacker with local access can exploit this vulnerability by interacting with the helper protocol to invoke the vulnerable removeDiagnosticLogs function, which executes /usr/bin/log with unsanitized arguments, resulting in arbitrary root-level file modification [1]. No authentication or special privileges are required beyond local access [1].
Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to modify the file system as root, leading to high integrity impact. Confidentiality and availability are not directly affected, but the ability to alter system files can facilitate further compromise [1]. The CVSSv3 score is 7.1 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N) [1].
Mitigation
The vendor has released updates to address this vulnerability. Users should update CleanMyMac X to a patched version beyond 4.04. No workarounds are mentioned in the available references [1].
AI Insight generated on May 26, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"Missing validation of the calling application in the privileged helper's removeDiagnosticLogs function allows any local process to delete system logs as root."
Attack vector
An attacker with local access can invoke the `removeDiagnosticLogs` function of the privileged helper tool because there is no validation of the calling application [ref_id=1]. Since the helper runs as root, any local application — including a non-privileged one — can trigger the deletion of the main log datastore, crossing a privilege boundary [ref_id=1]. The function constructs the arguments `erase` and `--all` and passes them to `/usr/bin/log` via `launchTask` [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The vulnerability is in the `removeDiagnosticLogs` function of CleanMyMac X's privileged helper protocol. The function calls `launchTask` with `/usr/bin/log` and the arguments `erase` and `--all` [ref_id=1].
What the fix does
The advisory states the vendor patched the vulnerability on 2018-12-27, but no patch details are included in the bundle [ref_id=1]. The remediation would require adding caller validation to the `removeDiagnosticLogs` function so that only authorized applications can invoke the privileged helper's log deletion functionality [ref_id=1].
Preconditions
- networkAttacker must have local access to the macOS system
- authNo authentication required — any local application can invoke the helper function
Generated on May 25, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
1- www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2018-0710mitrex_refsource_MISC
News mentions
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