CVE-2026-86819: CWE-862 Missing Authorization in Waves Audio Ltd. Waves Central
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 v4.0
Score 8.4high
Affected software
Waves Audio Ltd.
Waves Central
pkg:github/waves-audio/waves-centralRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-86819 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Waves Central for macOS. The privileged helper service authorizes 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 such as application identifier and Team ID. This improper authorization allows a local authenticated user to execute code within the vendor-signed process and cause the helper to execute a script with root privileges. The vulnerability is fixed in Waves Central version 17.0.
Potential Impact
A local authenticated user can escalate privileges to root by exploiting the helper service's improper client authorization. This could allow execution of arbitrary code with root privileges on the affected system.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade to Waves Central version 17.0 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. No other mitigation is indicated by the vendor advisory.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- cisa-cg
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-08T14:09:48.155Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6aa07239acd9273b4931f78f
Added to database: 09/08/2026, 20:38:17 UTC
Last enriched: 09/16/2026, 01:09:21 UTC
Last updated: 10/23/2026, 13:15:20 UTC
Views: 65
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