Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-30456

Apple Macos ≤ 13.7.5

Published
31 March 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0036 29th percentile
Risk Priority 56 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-30456 is a high-severity Improper Preservation of Permissions (CWE-281) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 29th 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 AC-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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-2025-30456 is a parsing issue in the handling of directory paths that was addressed through improved path validation. The vulnerability affects Apple's iOS and iPadOS prior to version 18.4, as well as macOS Sequoia prior to 15.4, macOS Sonoma prior to 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura prior to 13.7.5. It is classified under CWE-281 and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8.

The vulnerability can be exploited by a local attacker with no privileges required, though it demands low complexity and user interaction. Successful exploitation allows an app to elevate privileges to root level, potentially granting high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromises within the unchanged scope.

Apple's security advisories detail the fixes in the specified OS updates, recommending users apply patches immediately to mitigate the issue. Relevant documentation is available at support.apple.com/en-us/122371, support.apple.com/en-us/122373, support.apple.com/en-us/122374, support.apple.com/en-us/122375, and seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Apr/10.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A parsing issue in the handling of directory paths was addressed with improved path validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, macOS Ventura 13.7.5. An app may be able to…

more

gain root privileges.

CWE(s)
CWE-281

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
T1039 Data from Network Shared Drive Collection
Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest.
attack.mitre.org →
T1080 Taint Shared Content Lateral Movement
attack.mitre.org →
T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1555 Credentials from Password Stores Credential Access
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-32400Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32388Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-40824Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-31184Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-54513Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-40859Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-27795Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-40800Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-40821Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-54465Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 18.4
apple
iphone os
≤ 18.4
apple
macos
≤ 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)
  • 8 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes good match

Associating and preserving security attributes (including permissions) with objects reduces the chance they are lost or weakened on copy/restore/share.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Enforcing approved authorizations for access directly stops objects from receiving or retaining less-restrictive permissions than intended.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege assignments limit the blast radius when permissions are incorrectly relaxed during copy/restore/share operations.

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

Enforcing least-privilege permission policies and reviews directly prevents incorrect permission propagation on copy/restore/share operations.

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.5.15 Access control partial match
degrades

Access-control policy defines how permissions must be preserved when objects are copied or shared.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
degrades

Access-rights provisioning and review processes directly address the risk of overly permissive copied objects.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
degrades

Privileged-access management includes rules for maintaining correct permissions on copied or restored data.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
degrades

Information-access-restriction controls enforce least-privilege permissions that must be preserved during copy/restore operations.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

Change-management procedures can require verification that permissions remain intact after modifications or restores.

A.8.9 Configuration management none match
none

Configuration baselines can embed permission settings, indirectly reducing the chance of incorrect preservation.

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 Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205743 Windows Server 2019 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281
Windows Server 2022 (2 rules)
  • V-254393 Windows Server 2022 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281
  • V-254395 Windows Server 2022 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281

References