CVE-2025-43184
Published: 30 July 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-43184 is a critical-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Unix Shell (T1059.004); ranked in the top 36.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-43184 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8) affecting the Shortcuts app on macOS systems, classified under CWE-284 (Improper Access Control). It allows a malicious shortcut to bypass sensitive Shortcuts app settings, enabling unauthorized access or actions that would normally be restricted. The flaw impacts macOS versions prior to Sequoia 15.4, Sonoma 14.7.7, and Ventura 13.7.7.
Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity, requiring no privileges or user interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N). By delivering a specially crafted shortcut—potentially via email, messaging, or web download—an attacker could bypass app protections, achieving high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). This could lead to unauthorized data access, modification of system settings, or execution of harmful actions through the Shortcuts automation framework.
Apple's security advisories detail the fix, implemented by adding an additional prompt for user consent before sensitive operations. The issue is patched in macOS Sequoia 15.4, Sonoma 14.7.7, and Ventura 13.7.7; users should update immediately. Further details are available in Apple support documents at https://support.apple.com/en-us/122373, https://support.apple.com/en-us/124150, and https://support.apple.com/en-us/124151, along with Full Disclosure mailing list entries at http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jul/33 and http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jul/34.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-23131
Vulnerability details
This issue was addressed by adding an additional prompt for user consent. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, macOS Ventura 13.7.7. A shortcut may be able to bypass sensitive Shortcuts app settings.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Bypass of Shortcuts app consent controls enables unauthorized automation actions (Unix shell via shortcuts) and TCC manipulation on macOS.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-3 enforces approved authorizations for access to system resources, directly preventing malicious shortcuts from bypassing sensitive Shortcuts app settings.
AC-6 applies least privilege to restrict shortcut processes to only necessary permissions, mitigating unauthorized actions enabled by the access control bypass.
IA-11 requires re-authentication for sensitive operations via user consent prompts, matching the CVE fix that added an extra prompt to block unauthorized shortcut execution.