Improper XPC caller certificate validation and TOCTOU race condition in macOS PrivilegedHelperTool

published 2026-07-01 4 mo ago modified 2026-10-25 14 d ago also EUVD-2026-41001

cvss: 6.4; 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 0%
public exploits: 0; none known

Improper certificate validation and a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the PrivilegedHelperTool XPC service in Cato Client before v.5.13.1 on macOS allows a local authenticated attacker to escalate privileges to root via a self-signed certificate that bypasses the XPC caller verification and a symlink swap during package installation.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

Cato Networks SDP Client 5.13.1

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 4 mo ago (2026-07-01)

Exploit prediction

0.07% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 0% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	6.4	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/AU:Y/R:U/V:C/RE:L/U:Amber
CNA	4.0	6.4	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/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:Y/R:U/V:C/RE:L/U:Amber

Affected products

Cato Networks SDP Client

Classification

Weakness

CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation
CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

References

support.catonetworks.com /hc/en-us/articles/37284626576413-Security-Vulnerability-CVE-2026-12374-that-Impacts-macOS-Client-Versions-Low

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-12374
NVD CVE-2026-12374

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