Privilege escalation in Acustica-Audio Aquarius Helpertool
CVE-2025-65842
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (5.3th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 5.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Acustica-Audio Aquarius Helpertool — versions 1.0.003
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- almightysec.com/helpertool-xpc-service-local-privilege-escalation/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-65842?
- CVE-2025-65842 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Acustica-Audio Aquarius Helpertool, classified under Incorrect Privilege Assignment. CVSS score: 5.1/10. Published 2025-12-03.
- How severe is CVE-2025-65842?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.1 out of 10.