CVE-2026-24065
Description
Waves Central for macOS has a local privilege escalation flaw allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by exploiting a race condition in the privileged helper service.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Waves Central for macOS has a local privilege escalation flaw allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by exploiting a race condition in the privileged helper service.
Vulnerability
Waves Central for macOS versions 13.0.9 through 16.5.5 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability within its privileged helper service. The helper service validates connecting XPC clients by checking their process identifier (PID) against their code-signing identity. This validation is susceptible to a race condition, as PID reuse can occur between the connection request and the validation step [1].
Exploitation
A local attacker can exploit this vulnerability by initiating a connection to the privileged helper service and then, within a narrow time window, manipulating the process identifier (PID) to reuse a PID that has already been validated. This race condition allows the attacker to trick the helper into trusting a malicious process, enabling it to invoke privileged operations [1].
Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the affected macOS system. This grants the attacker complete control over the system, enabling them to perform any action available to the root user, including data theft, system modification, or further malware deployment [1].
Mitigation
The vulnerability is fixed in Waves Central version 16.6.2. Users are strongly recommended to update to this version immediately. No workarounds are mentioned in the available references, and the product is not listed as end-of-life or on the KEV catalog [1].
AI Insight generated on Jun 9, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1- Range: <16.6.2
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"The privileged helper service improperly validates XPC clients by reusing process identifiers, allowing a race condition to be exploited."
Attack vector
A local attacker can exploit a race condition between the time an XPC client requests a connection and the time the privileged helper service validates the client's code-signing identity. By reusing a process identifier, the attacker can trick the helper service into trusting a malicious process. This allows the attacker to invoke privileged operations, leading to arbitrary code execution as root [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The vulnerability lies within the privileged helper service, specifically `InstlHelperApplication.app/Contents/MacOS/InstlHelperApplication`, which exposes an XPC service named `com.waves.central.InstlHelper`. This service uses the connecting client's PID for code signature validation [ref_id=1].
What the fix does
The advisory states the issue is fixed in version 16.6.2. The patch is not provided in the bundle, but the fix likely involves implementing a more robust validation mechanism for XPC clients that does not rely on potentially reusable process identifiers. This would prevent an attacker from tricking the service into trusting an unauthorized process.
Preconditions
- inputThe attacker must have local access to the affected macOS system.
Generated on Jun 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
2News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.