Privilege Escalation via get-task-allow entitlement in MacVim.app

published 2025-08-26 14 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2025-25783

cvss: 4.8; version 4.0, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.1%; EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 3%
public exploits: 0; none known

MacVim's configuration on macOS, specifically the presence of entitlement "com.apple.security.get-task-allow", allows local attackers with unprivileged access (e.g. via a malicious application) to attach a debugger, read or modify the process memory, inject code in the application's context despite being signed with Hardened Runtime and bypass Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC). Acquired resource access is limited to previously granted permissions by the user. Access to other resources beyond granted permissions requires user interaction with a system prompt asking for permission.

According to Apple documentation, when a non-root user runs an app with the debugging tool entitlement, the system presents an authorization dialog asking for a system administrator's credentials. Since there is no prompt when the target process has "get-task-allow" entitlement, the presence of this entitlement was decided to be treated as a vulnerability because it removes one step needed to perform an attack.

This issue was fixed in build r181.2

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 links 1

MacVim MacVim r181.2

github.com/macvim-dev/macvim#1585 pull request

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 14 mo ago (2025-08-26)

Exploit prediction

0.14% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	4.8	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA	4.0	4.8	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Affected products

MacVim MacVim

Classification

Weakness

CWE-497 Exposure of Sensitive System Information to an Unauthorized Control Sphere

References

github.com /macvim-dev/macvim/pull/1585
issue-tracking
cert.pl /en/posts/2025/08/tcc-bypass/
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2025-8597
NVD CVE-2025-8597

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary