CVE-2025-21606
Published: 17 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21606 is a high-severity Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity (CWE-345) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 36.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-2570
Vulnerability details
stats is a macOS system monitor in for the menu bar. The Stats application is vulnerable to a local privilege escalation due to the insecure implementation of its XPC service. The application registers a Mach service under the name `eu.exelban.Stats.SMC.Helper`.…
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The associated binary, eu.exelban.Stats.SMC.Helper, is a privileged helper tool designed to execute actions requiring elevated privileges on behalf of the client, such as setting fan modes, adjusting fan speeds, and executing the `powermetrics` command. The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the `shouldAcceptNewConnection` method, which unconditionally returns YES (or true), allowing any XPC client to connect to the service without any form of verification. As a result, unauthorized clients can establish a connection to the Mach service and invoke methods exposed by the HelperTool interface. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability to modify the hardware settings of the user’s device and execute arbitrary code with root privileges. This issue has been addressed in version 2.11.21 and all users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Directly requires independent verification of matching output before adverse decisions, mitigating insufficient authenticity checks on data from external sources.
Use of approved PKI certificates provides verifiable data authenticity and origin for communications and artifacts.
Mandates provision of authenticity and integrity artifacts that enable verification of name/address resolution data.
Requires explicit verification of data authenticity from authoritative sources, preventing acceptance of unauthenticated resolution responses.
Control requires verification of data authenticity/integrity (e.g., checksums) after aggregation/packing, directly reducing exploitation of insufficient verification before transmission.
Time synchronization supports reliable freshness verification when checking data authenticity across systems or components.
Mandates verification of data authenticity for software, firmware, and information.
Provenance documentation and monitoring directly enables verification of authenticity for components and data throughout their history.