CVE-2025-8597: Privilege Escalation via get-task-allow entitlement in MacVim.app

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.8 v4.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-08-26 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-497

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

Affected products

macvim-dev macvim: before r181.2 — fixed in r181.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: macvim-dev macvim r181.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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