CVE-2025-43232
CRITICALCVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
2Description
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, macOS Ventura 13.7.7. An app may be able to bypass certain Privacy preferences.
Analysis
Privacy controls in macOS Sequoia, Sonoma, and Ventura can be bypassed by local applications due to insufficient permission enforcement, allowing unauthorized access to privacy-protected resources. Fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6, Sonoma 14.7.7, and Ventura 13.7.7. CVSS score of 9.8 (Critical) reflects network-exploitable attack vector, but actual exploitation requires local app installation, making the CVSS vector (AV:N) likely misaligned with the described attack scenario. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS score of 0.08% (24th percentile) indicates low predicted exploitation probability despite high CVSS severity.
Technical Context
This vulnerability stems from CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) affecting the macOS Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) framework, which mediates application access to privacy-sensitive resources like camera, microphone, location services, contacts, and files. The TCC framework maintains a database of user consent decisions and enforces permission checks when applications request access to protected resources. The permissions issue allowed malicious applications to circumvent these enforcement mechanisms, potentially through manipulation of permission databases, exploitation of race conditions in permission checks, or abuse of inter-process communication channels that bypass TCC validation. Apple addressed this with additional restrictions, likely hardening permission validation logic, strengthening database integrity checks, or closing loopholes in permission inheritance models. The affected CPE strings indicate impact across multiple major macOS versions: Ventura 13.x (released 2022), Sonoma 14.x (2023), and Sequoia 15.x (2024), suggesting a longstanding architectural weakness rather than a recent regression.
Affected Products
Apple macOS Ventura versions prior to 13.7.7, macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.7.7, and macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15.6 are affected by this privacy control bypass vulnerability. The CPE identifiers (cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) confirm impact across all three major supported macOS release branches. Official vendor advisories are available at Apple support articles HT124149 (Sequoia 15.6), HT124150 (Sonoma 14.7.7), and HT124151 (Ventura 13.7.7), which detail the complete security content of these updates and confirm affected version ranges.
Remediation
Apply vendor-released security updates immediately: upgrade to macOS Sequoia 15.6 for Sequoia users, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7 for Sonoma users, or macOS Ventura 13.7.7 for Ventura users. These updates contain the fix addressing the permissions enforcement issue with additional restrictions to the TCC framework. Organizations should prioritize deployment to systems processing sensitive data or operating in regulated environments where privacy controls are compliance-critical. Update installation instructions and full security content documentation are available in Apple support articles HT124149, HT124150, and HT124151 at https://support.apple.com. As this vulnerability requires local application execution, interim mitigation strategies include enforcing application allow-listing policies, restricting installation of applications from unidentified developers through Gatekeeper settings, and auditing TCC permission grants via system preferences or tccutil command-line tools to identify suspicious permission requests. No effective workaround exists to fully mitigate the vulnerability without patching, as the flaw resides in core operating system permission enforcement mechanisms.
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