Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-43288

Apple Macos ≤ 15.7

Published
04 November 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View 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:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0017 7th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-43288 is a medium-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 7th 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)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7, macOS Tahoe 26. An app may be able to bypass Privacy preferences.

CWE(s)
CWE-59

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-43394Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-46293Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43381Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-31198Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43252Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-20610Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-27885Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43461Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-24103Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42844Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
macos
≤ 15.7

Mitigating Controls

Control response

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

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V15.4.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match
prevent

Directly enforces access restrictions defined by Privacy preferences, blocking unauthorized file operations that exploit symlink resolution.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match
prevent

Requires validation of all input paths and symlinks before file access, directly addressing the CWE-59 flaw fixed by improved symlink checks.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match
prevent

Limits process privileges so an app cannot reach or bypass Privacy preference-protected resources even via malformed symlinks.

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-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing can detect link-following flaws before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include input validation and safe file-access design patterns.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly address canonicalization and symlink attacks during implementation.

A.8.3 Information access restriction none match
none

Access-control rules can limit which files are reachable, reducing exposure to malicious links.

References