Security News > 2024 > August > Vulnerabilities in Microsoft macOS apps may give attackers access to microphone, camera

Vulnerabilities in popular Microsoft apps for macOS can be abused by attackers to record video and audio clips, take pictures, access and exfiltrate data and send emails, Cisco Talos researchers have discovered.

Library injection vulnerabilities in Microsoft apps for macOS. The flaws - CVE-2024-41138, CVE-2024-41145, CVE-2024-41159, CVE-2024-42004, CVE-2024-41165, CVE-2024-43106, CVE-2024-39804 and CVE-2024-42220 - have been found in Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint for macOS. They allow attackers to inject specially crafted libraries so they can assume the vulnerable apps' entitlements and the permissions they've been granted by users.

MacOS employs a security feature called Hardened Runtime to prevent dynamically linked library hijacking, but the vulnerable apps have enabled a specific entitlement - com.

Other apps for macOS may be vulnerable if they use the com.

"According to Apple, this entitlement allows the loading of plug-ins signed by third-party developers. Yet, as far as we know, the only 'plug-ins' available to Microsoft's macOS apps are web-based and known as 'Office add-ins'," Benvenuto noted.

"The vulnerable apps leave the door open for adversaries to exploit all of the apps' entitlements and, without any user prompts, reuse all the permissions already granted to the app, effectively serving as a permission broker for the attacker."

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/08/20/microsoft-macos-vulnerabilities/