Threats / Apple / CVE-2014-4404
CVE-2014-4404
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Apple OS X vulnerability
Heap-based buffer overflow in IOHIDFamily allows attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges on affected Apple OS X systems.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A memory corruption vulnerability in a core input/output subsystem enables local or remote code execution in privileged context. Active exploitation in the wild increases risk despite no ransomware association.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
1 independent public report 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 2022-02-10).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.49049 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Apple, OS X. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
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
Craft malicious input to IOHIDFamily to trigger heap buffer overflow and gain code execution at kernel or system privilege level.
Business
Compromised OS X systems face unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and loss of system integrity across affected user base.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
Escalate from user-level access to privileged execution context via the vulnerability to install persistent backdoors or rootkits.
Business
Attackers establish durable footholds enabling long-term surveillance, credential theft, and lateral movement within enterprise networks.
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