CVE-2025-30444
Published: 31 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-30444 is a critical-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 31.3th 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 SC-7 (Boundary Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Applying vendor-specific patches, such as macOS updates to Sequoia 15.4, Sonoma 14.7.5, or Ventura 13.7.5, directly remediates the race condition in SMB share handling.
Boundary protection mechanisms block unauthorized inbound SMB traffic from untrusted networks, preventing systems from mounting malicious shares that trigger the race condition.
Secure configuration settings for SMB client functionality, such as requiring authentication and disabling guest access or auto-mounting, reduce exposure to maliciously crafted shares.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The race condition in macOS SMB share handling allows remote unauthenticated exploitation via a malicious SMB share, directly resulting in system termination (high availability impact) through application/system exploitation.
NVD Description
A race condition was addressed with improved locking. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, macOS Ventura 13.7.5. Mounting a maliciously crafted SMB network share may lead to system termination.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-30444 is a race condition vulnerability (CWE-362) addressed through improved locking mechanisms in Apple's macOS operating system. It affects macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15.4, macOS Sonoma prior to 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura prior to 13.7.5. The issue arises in the component handling SMB network shares, where mounting a maliciously crafted SMB share can trigger the race condition.
With a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), the vulnerability enables remote exploitation over the network with low complexity, no required privileges, and no user interaction. An unauthenticated attacker can craft and host a malicious SMB share, leading a target system to mount it and suffer high-impact consequences, including system termination.
Apple's security advisories confirm the fix in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura 13.7.5, recommending immediate updates to mitigate the risk. Further technical details and potential proof-of-concept information appear in the referenced Apple support pages (https://support.apple.com/en-us/122373, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122374, https://support.apple.com/en-us/122375) and Full Disclosure mailing list archives (http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Apr/10, http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Apr/8).
Details
- CWE(s)