Meta’s new AI assistant Muse is a macOS app that integrates deeply with user accounts and device resources to book appointments, fill forms, make purchases, generate content, and create on-the-fly tools. Security researcher Patrick Wardle discovered a zero-day that lets any local app or terminal command change undocumented Muse settings, including the transcription endpoint. By redirecting transcription to a malicious server, attackers receive the authentication token that grants full control of a Muse account. Wardle built proofs-of-concept that use the agent’s privileges to write files to disk, take photos, and exfiltrate WhatsApp archives, often without visible user alerts.
The flaw stems from design decisions: Muse performs dictation in the cloud instead of using local macOS transcription, and it exposes broad undocumented settings controllable by unprivileged processes. Those choices undo macOS protections and dramatically elevate risk. A simple ClickFix-style interaction is sufficient to trigger the exploit, and Amazon has already begun blocking Muse from shopping on its site. Meta published posts defending Muse’s security but did not answer emailed questions about the vulnerability. Wardle plans to present further details and related assistant threats at an upcoming security conference.
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