Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-24254

Apple Macos 13.0 – 13.7.5

Published
31 March 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0076 52th percentile
Risk Priority 65 floored blend · peak EPSS

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 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism (T1548); ranked in the top 48% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-2 (Account Management) and AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) — 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-2025-24254 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.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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)
CWE-269

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1134 Access Token Manipulation Stealth
Adversaries may modify access tokens to operate under a different user or system security context to perform actions and bypass access controls.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid Privilege Escalation
An adversary may abuse configurations where an application has the setuid or setgid bits set in order to get code running in a different (and possibly more privileged) user’s context.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-40861Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-46310Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43256Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43188Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-23276Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-31272Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43320Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-20607Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-32426Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-44250Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
macos
13.0 — 13.7.5 · 14.0 — 14.7.5 · 15.0 — 15.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-2 Account Management good match

Account management directly governs assignment and tracking of privileges so proper implementation stops the weakness from being introduced.

AC-24 Access Control Decisions good match

Requiring explicit access-control decisions ensures privileges are evaluated rather than assumed or omitted.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Access enforcement applies the correct privilege checks at every request, structurally preventing unintended spheres of control.

AC-5 Separation of Duties good match

Separation of duties constrains how privileges may be assigned, reducing the chance of overly broad actor control.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

Least privilege is the direct countermeasure to improper privilege management; implementing it eliminates the root cause.

AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes partial match

Binding security attributes to subjects/objects supplies the mechanism needed to track and enforce privileges correctly.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-05 enforces least privilege/SoD and periodic reviews that directly remove most privilege-assignment defects, yet CWE-269 also covers escalation paths and role design outside a single access-management control.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies credential/identity lifecycle support that can reduce some privilege-assignment errors but does not itself assign, modify, or check privileges, leaving most of CWE-269's risk unaddressed.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Config baselines and default reviews can enforce some privilege-related settings (one facet) but do not address code-level assignment/tracking logic that defines CWE-269.

PR.PS-05 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-05 can partially limit exploitability of some privilege issues via execution restrictions, but does not address the core design/implementation flaws of CWE-269 at all.

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects data-in-use without touching privilege assignment/tracking, so it neither prevents CWE-269 nor removes more than one narrow facet of its risk.

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.

A.5.18 Access rights mostly match
prevents

Requiring owner approval, segregation of duties, and periodic reviews prevents the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges to users or processes.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights mostly match
prevents

Enforcing minimum-necessary privileges, temporary grants, and separation of administrative versus normal identities prevents the over-assignment of rights that CWE-269 describes.

A.8.3 Information access restriction mostly match
prevents

Dynamic techniques that grant the minimum necessary rights for a given time window and revoke them afterward reduce the window in which excessive or unnecessary privileges can be exploited.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Explicit restrictions on privileged access and segregation of duties limit the scope of privileges that can be assigned, reducing the chance that excessive or unnecessary privileges are granted to entities.

A.5.2 Information security roles and responsibilities partial match
prevents

Defining and communicating authorization levels for each role limits the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges.

A.5.3 Segregation of duties partial match
mitigates

Separating duties such as developing software from administering production systems prevents any one person from accumulating excessive privileges that would constitute improper privilege management.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-269
Windows 11 (1 rule)
  • V-253269 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-269
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-269
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205746 Windows Server 2019 must only allow Administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-269
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254428 Windows Server 2022 must only allow administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-269

References