Medium severity · published Aug 26, 2025
CVE-2025-8597
Privilege Escalation via get-task-allow entitlement in MacVim.app
4.8
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 3% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
MA
MacVim · MacVim
before r181.2 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-8597
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-8597
cert.pl
https://cert.pl/en/posts/2025/08/tcc-bypass/
github.com
https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim/pull/1585
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