Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-43320

LPE in Apple Macos ≤ 15.7.3

Published
12 December 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0018 7th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-43320 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

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 AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The issue was addressed by adding additional logic. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Tahoe 26. An app may be able to bypass launch constraint protections and execute malicious code with elevated privileges.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-23497Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-24254Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-32426Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43188Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43248Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43512Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-40802Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43199Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43256Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-24119Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
macos
≤ 15.7.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces launch constraint policies that are intended to block unauthorized code execution with elevated privileges.

prevent

Limits privileges granted to launched processes so that even a bypassed constraint cannot yield full elevated rights.

prevent

Verifies integrity and authenticity of executables before they are allowed to run, reducing the chance that malicious code evades launch constraints.

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

PR.AA-05 enforces least privilege/SoD and periodic reviews that directly remove most privilege-assignment defects, yet CWE-269 also covers escalation paths and role design outside a single access-management control.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies credential/identity lifecycle support that can reduce some privilege-assignment errors but does not itself assign, modify, or check privileges, leaving most of CWE-269's risk unaddressed.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Config baselines and default reviews can enforce some privilege-related settings (one facet) but do not address code-level assignment/tracking logic that defines CWE-269.

PR.PS-05 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-05 can partially limit exploitability of some privilege issues via execution restrictions, but does not address the core design/implementation flaws of CWE-269 at all.

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects data-in-use without touching privilege assignment/tracking, so it neither prevents CWE-269 nor removes more than one narrow facet of its risk.

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.

prevents

Requiring owner approval, segregation of duties, and periodic reviews prevents the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges to users or processes.

prevents

Enforcing minimum-necessary privileges, temporary grants, and separation of administrative versus normal identities prevents the over-assignment of rights that CWE-269 describes.

prevents

Dynamic techniques that grant the minimum necessary rights for a given time window and revoke them afterward reduce the window in which excessive or unnecessary privileges can be exploited.

prevents

Explicit restrictions on privileged access and segregation of duties limit the scope of privileges that can be assigned, reducing the chance that excessive or unnecessary privileges are granted to entities.

prevents

Defining and communicating authorization levels for each role limits the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges.

mitigates

Separating duties such as developing software from administering production systems prevents any one person from accumulating excessive privileges that would constitute improper privilege management.

References