MacOS High Sierra Users: Change Root Password Now

Summary: A flaw in macOS High Sierra lets anyone with local access log in as the root user without a password, first disclosed on Twitter by Turkish developer Lemi Orhan Ergin, who reported that clicking the login button several times with the username "root" and an empty password grants access. Sources who tested the bug said it can also be exploited remotely if a user has not changed the root password and has enabled screen sharing, and that disabling the root account does not fix it because the exploit re-enables the account; Apple released a patch on Nov. 29, 2017.
Why it matters: The workaround was a Terminal command, "sudo passwd root," and disabling the account did not hold because the exploit turned it back on - leaving every unpatched High Sierra machine one screen-sharing setting away from an unauthenticated root login.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics: Vulnerabilities & Patching
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