Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-43190

Path Traversal in Apple Macos 14.0 – 14.8

Published
15 September 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
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:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0025 17th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-43190 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 17th 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-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

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 26 and iPadOS 26, macOS Sequoia 15.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8, macOS Tahoe 26, visionOS 26, watchOS 26. An app…

more

may be able to access sensitive user data.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-44255Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-44167Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20688Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-27821Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20615Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20653Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-30470Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-54535Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-42947Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20660Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 26.0
apple
iphone os
≤ 26.0
apple
macos
14.0 — 14.8 · 15.0 — 15.7
apple
visionos
≤ 26.0
apple
watchos
≤ 26.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires validation of path inputs to reject malformed directory traversals that would otherwise allow an app to escape its sandbox and read sensitive user data.

prevent

Enforces the operating-system access-control policy on file-system objects so that even a malicious app cannot read files outside its authorized container.

prevent

Limits every app to the minimum set of file-system privileges needed for its function, thereby reducing the impact of any residual path-validation flaw.

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.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

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.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References