CVE-2025-43243
Apple Macos ≤ 13.7.7
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-43243 is a critical-severity Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource (CWE-732) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Credentials In Files (T1552.001); ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — 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-2025-43243 is a permissions issue, classified under CWE-732 (Incorrect Permissions with Respect to Pathname Resolution), affecting macOS systems prior to the patched versions. Published on 2025-07-30, the vulnerability allows an app to modify protected parts of the file system due to insufficient restrictions. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical), reflecting network accessibility (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), and unchanged scope (S:U) with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). The issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, and macOS Ventura 13.7.7.
The attack scenario enables remote attackers to exploit the vulnerability without authentication or user interaction. By leveraging the permissions flaw, an attacker can cause an app—potentially delivered remotely—to access and alter protected file system areas, leading to arbitrary read/write capabilities on sensitive data and system resources. This could result in data theft, tampering, or disruption of critical macOS components.
Apple's security advisories detail the mitigation as applying additional restrictions to permissions handling. Security practitioners should prioritize updating affected systems to macOS Sequoia 15.6, Sonoma 14.7.7, or Ventura 13.7.7, as outlined in support documents such as https://support.apple.com/en-us/124149, https://support.apple.com/en-us/124150, and https://support.apple.com/en-us/124151. Full disclosure notes are available at http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jul/32 and http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jul/33.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-23056
Vulnerability Data
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, macOS Ventura 13.7.7. An app may be able to modify protected parts of the file system.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 7 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the access control policy that defines permissions on resources, thereby stopping incorrect assignments from remaining exploitable.
Directly requires assignment of only the minimum necessary permissions, preventing overly broad grants on critical resources.
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.
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.
By requiring owners to determine and document the exact permissions needed for each asset, the control reduces the likelihood that default or overly permissive file and resource permissions will be left in place.
Documented provisioning and revocation procedures reduce the chance that critical resources retain overly permissive default or leftover permissions after personnel changes.
Documented authorization, expiry rules, and audit logging of privileged accounts make it harder for critical resources to retain overly permissive or stale permission assignments.
Requiring explicit configuration of access controls and permissions for files, applications and services counters the assignment of overly permissive default or incorrect file-system rights.
Enforcing differentiated permissions on the source-code repository and program listings stops the assignment of overly broad default or inherited permissions to critical resources.
By defining and enforcing secure permission settings in configuration templates, the control reduces the likelihood that critical resources receive incorrect permission assignments.
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).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248577 OL 8 must enable kernel parameters to enforce Discretionary Access Control (DAC) on symlinks. prevents CWE-732
Windows Server 2016 (2 rules)
- V-224972 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-732
- V-224831 Local volumes must use a format that supports NTFS attributes. prevents CWE-732
Windows Server 2019 (2 rules)
- V-205741 Windows Server 2019 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-732
- V-205663 Windows Server 2019 local volumes must use a format that supports NTFS attributes. prevents CWE-732
Windows Server 2022 (2 rules)
- V-254393 Windows Server 2022 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-732
- V-254250 Windows Server 2022 local volumes must use a format that supports NTFS attributes. prevents CWE-732