CVE-2026-86819

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Privilege Escalation in Waves Central for macOS

Publication date: 2026-09-08

Last updated on: 2026-09-14

Assigner: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) U.S. Civilian Government

Description

Waves Central for macOS contains a local privilege escalation in the privileged helper service. The helper authorizes connecting XPC clients by comparing the caller's code-signing certificate chain for equality with its own, rather than validating the caller against a pinned code requirement (application identifier and Team ID). A local, authenticated user can execute code within the vendor-signed process, satisfy the helper's client check, and cause the helper to execute a script with root privileges. Fixed in 17.0.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-08

Last Modified

2026-09-14

Generated

2026-09-29

AI Q&A

2026-09-09

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-27

NVD

CVE-2026-86819

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
waves	audiomonitor	17.0

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-862	The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

Waves Central for macOS has a local privilege escalation flaw in its privileged helper service. The helper checks XPC clients by comparing code-signing certificate chains for equality with its own instead of validating against a pinned code requirement. This allows a local authenticated user to execute code within the vendor-signed process and trick the helper into running a script with root privileges.

Detection Guidance

Detection requires checking for vulnerable versions of Waves Central on macOS. Verify if the installed version is below 17.0. Use commands like 'system_profiler SPApplicationsDataType | grep -i Waves' to list installed versions. Check for the presence of the privileged helper service and inspect its code-signing certificate chain for inconsistencies.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain root privileges on your macOS system. This could lead to full system compromise, unauthorized data access, installation of malware, or complete control over your device.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, violating GDPR's data protection principles or HIPAA's security requirements for protected health information. Organizations may face compliance breaches, legal penalties, and reputational damage if exploited.

Mitigation Strategies

Update Waves Central to version 17.0 or later immediately. If updating is not possible, restrict local user access to privileged operations and monitor for suspicious activity. Disable the vulnerable helper service if not required.

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