CVE-2024-55968
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-55968 is a high-severity Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions (CWE-267) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Access Token Manipulation (T1134); ranked in the top 40% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and AC-5 (Separation of Duties) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2024-55968 affects DTEX DEC-M (DTEX Forwarder) version 6.1.1 on macOS. The com.dtexsystems.helper service, which handles privileged operations inside the DTEX Event Forwarder agent, performs no validation of connecting clients during XPC interprocess communication. It neither checks code signing requirements, entitlements, security flags, nor client version before accepting connections to the DTConnectionHelperProtocol interface.
An attacker with local access and the ability to launch an XPC client can therefore invoke the submitQuery method without authorization. Successful exploitation grants the caller root privileges by abusing the helper's privileged operations.
Public references consist of two GitHub repositories that document the missing validation and provide proof-of-concept code for establishing an unauthorized connection.
The EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a recorded peak of 0.1358 before settling at the current value of 0.1048, indicating measurable post-disclosure interest in the issue.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-52868
Vulnerability Data
An issue was discovered in DTEX DEC-M (DTEX Forwarder) 6.1.1. The com.dtexsystems.helper service, responsible for handling privileged operations within the macOS DTEX Event Forwarder agent, fails to implement critical client validation during XPC interprocess communication (IPC). Specifically, the service does…
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not verify the code requirements, entitlements, security flags, or version of any client attempting to establish a connection. This lack of proper logic validation allows malicious actors to exploit the service's methods via unauthorized client connections, and escalate privileges to root by abusing the DTConnectionHelperProtocol protocol's submitQuery method over an unauthorized XPC connection.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 10 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
V13.2.2V3.7.3V9.2.2V9.2.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege directly requires that privileges grant only the minimal actions needed, preventing definition of overly broad privileges that include unintended unsafe operations.
Separation of duties splits high-risk actions across multiple privileges so that no single privilege can perform the full unsafe sequence.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Defining and enforcing least-privilege permissions directly reduces the chance that a privilege permits unintended unsafe actions.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Use of privileged utility programs restricts dangerous tools but does not address unsafe actions within assigned privileges.
Access control policy can limit unsafe privilege use but does not define safe actions for each privilege.
Access rights assignment can restrict privileges to intended actions, yet does not guarantee the privilege itself is safe.
Segregation of duties reduces risk of unsafe actions by splitting privileges but does not address unsafe privilege definitions.
Privileged access rights control can restrict unsafe privileges, yet does not ensure the privilege definition itself is safe.
Secure development lifecycle can catch unsafe privilege definitions during design but does not prevent them at runtime.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271725 OL 9 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-267
Ubuntu 22.04 (3 rules)
- V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-267
- V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-267
- V-260542 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must prevent direct login into the root account. prevents CWE-267