macOS Spotlight Vulnerability Discovered by Microsoft

Microsoft Threat Intelligence found a Spotlight-related vulnerability that could allow attackers to steal private file data, outlining the issue in a blog post today. Microsoft's threat team is calling the exploit "Sploitlight" because it uses Spotlight plugins.

According to Microsoft, the vulnerability is a Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) bypass that can leak sensitive info cached by Apple Intelligence. Attackers could have used it to get precise location data, photo and video metadata, face recognition data from the Photo Library, search history, AI email summaries, user preferences, and more.

TCC is designed to keep apps from accessing personal information without user consent. Spotlight plugins that allow app files to appear in search are sandboxed by Apple and heavily restricted from accessing sensitive files, but Microsoft found a way around that. Microsoft researchers tweaked the app bundles that Spotlight pulls in, leaking file contents.

Microsoft shared details of the bypass with Apple, and Apple addressed the issue in macOS 15.4 and iOS 15.4, updates that came out on March 31. The vulnerability was never actively exploited, because Apple was able to fix it before it was disclosed.

Apple's security support document for the update said that the problem was addressed through improved data redaction. Apple fixed two other vulnerabilities that were credited to Microsoft at the same time with improved validation of symlinks and improved state management.

Full information on how the exploit worked can be found on Microsoft's website.