CVE-2025-24254
Published: 31 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-24254 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 27.7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-24254 is a privilege escalation vulnerability stemming from inadequate validation of symbolic links in macOS. It affects macOS Sequoia prior to version 15.4, macOS Sonoma prior to 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura prior to 13.7.5. The issue, classified under CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) upon its publication on March 31, 2025.
An authenticated user with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation enables the attacker to gain elevated privileges, potentially resulting in high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts on the affected system.
Apple's security advisories detail the fix as improved symlink validation, with patches available in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura 13.7.5. Additional details appear in support documents at https://support.apple.com/en-us/122373, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122374, and https://support.apple.com/en-us/122375, alongside full disclosure discussions on seclists.org from early April 2025.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-8951
Vulnerability details
This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, macOS Ventura 13.7.5. A user may be able to elevate privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The CVE describes a privilege escalation vulnerability in macOS due to inadequate symbolic link validation (CWE-269), directly enabling T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation by allowing low-privileged authenticated users to gain elevated access.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly addresses inadequate symlink validation by requiring checks on filesystem inputs like symlinks to prevent privilege escalation.
Implements a reference monitor that mediates all resource accesses, including symlinks, enforcing proper validation to block unauthorized privilege elevation.
Enforces least privilege to restrict low-privileged users from elevating rights via symlink exploitation in macOS.