CVE-2022-32895 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Apple macOS, specifically addressed in macOS Ventura 13. The vulnerability arises from a race condition (CWE-362) related to improper state handling within the operating system. This race condition could allow a malicious application to modify protected parts of the file system, which are normally restricted to prevent unauthorized changes. The vulnerability does not require privileges (PR:N) but does require local access (AV:L) and user interaction (UI:R) to exploit. The attack complexity is high (AC:H), meaning exploitation is non-trivial and requires specific conditions to be met. The impact is primarily on integrity (I:H), with no direct confidentiality or availability impact. The race condition flaw means that if an attacker times operations correctly, they could bypass protections and alter critical system files or configurations, potentially leading to persistence, privilege escalation, or system instability. Apple has fixed this issue by improving state handling in macOS Ventura 13. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no specific patch links were provided, but updating to the latest macOS version is recommended.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to environments where macOS is used extensively, such as creative industries, software development firms, and certain corporate environments that rely on Apple hardware. The ability for an unprivileged app to modify protected file system areas could lead to unauthorized changes in system behavior, potentially enabling attackers to implant persistent malware, alter security configurations, or disrupt system integrity. While exploitation requires local access and user interaction, insider threats or social engineering attacks could leverage this vulnerability. The impact on confidentiality is minimal, but integrity compromise could undermine trust in system operations and lead to further exploitation. Organizations with macOS endpoints should be aware of this risk, especially those handling sensitive data or critical infrastructure. Given the medium severity and lack of known exploits, the immediate risk is moderate but should not be ignored.

1. Upgrade all macOS systems to macOS Ventura 13 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. 2. Implement strict application control policies to limit the installation and execution of untrusted or unsigned applications, reducing the risk of malicious apps exploiting this vulnerability. 3. Educate users about the risks of running untrusted software and the importance of avoiding suspicious links or downloads that could lead to local exploitation. 4. Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of monitoring for unusual file system modifications or behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Regularly audit macOS systems for unauthorized changes to protected file system areas and maintain robust backup and recovery procedures to restore integrity if compromise occurs. 6. Limit local user privileges where possible to reduce the attack surface, even though this vulnerability does not require privileges, minimizing potential damage from exploitation.