Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-24139

Memory Safety in Apple Macos ≤ 13.7.3

Published
27 January 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0027 20th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-24139 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 20th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-24139 is a vulnerability in macOS that allows parsing a maliciously crafted file to lead to an unexpected application termination. The issue, addressed through improved checks, affects macOS versions prior to Sequoia 15.3, Sonoma 14.7.3, Ventura 13.7.3, and Ventura 13.7.5. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (medium severity) and is associated with CWE-787 (out-of-bounds write), though additional CWE details are unavailable from NVD.

Exploitation requires local access with low complexity and no privileges, but user interaction is necessary to open the malicious file. A local attacker can achieve high availability impact by causing the targeted application to crash, with no effects on confidentiality or integrity and no scope change.

Apple security advisories, detailed in support pages such as https://support.apple.com/en-us/122068, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122069, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122070, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122375, and http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Apr/10, confirm mitigation via updates to the listed macOS versions.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, macOS Ventura 13.7.3, macOS Ventura 13.7.5. Parsing a maliciously crafted file may lead to an unexpected app termination.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability enables crashing a target application via malicious file parsing (out-of-bounds write leading to termination), directly mapping to application exploitation for denial of service.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-24273Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-23516Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42908Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42904Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42882Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42911Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-24185Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-40810Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-44284Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-24231Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
macos
≤ 13.7.3 · 14.0 — 14.7.3 · 15.0 — 15.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Timely flaw remediation through patching directly eliminates the parsing vulnerability in macOS that leads to application crashes from malicious files.

prevent

Memory protection mechanisms such as bounds checking prevent out-of-bounds writes during file parsing that cause unexpected app terminations.

prevent

Information input validation ensures maliciously crafted files are rejected or sanitized before parsing, mitigating the risk of application crashes.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References