Threats / Apple / CVE-2021-30713
CVE-2021-30713
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Apple macOS vulnerability
Apple macOS TCC framework contains a permissions bypass vulnerability allowing malicious applications to circumvent privacy controls and access protected user data without proper consent.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A local privilege escalation and privacy bypass in macOS TCC enables installed malware to access sensitive user information by evading transparency and consent mechanisms. Active exploitation in the wild demonstrates practical threat.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.0658 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
3 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.0658 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Apple, macOS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-862 Missing Authorization — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 56 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious application that exploits the TCC permissions flaw to bypass privacy controls.
Business
User privacy is compromised as sensitive data becomes accessible to unauthorized applications without user knowledge or consent.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute the application through social engineering or compromised software channels to gain local execution.
Business
Attack surface expands as legitimate-appearing applications can now access protected resources like camera, microphone, location, and file systems.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I exfiltrate protected user data such as contacts, photos, browsing history, or credentials once TCC restrictions are bypassed.
Business
Customer trust erodes and regulatory exposure increases under privacy frameworks like GDPR and CCPA due to unauthorized data access.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05