CVE-2023-40430VulnerabilityPublished 10 Jan 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-40430: Apple macOS · An app may be able to access removable volumes without user consent

Affects Apple macOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium : upgrade to 14 when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 12% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 14

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Apple macOS to 14.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apple macOS	Affected <14	Fixed in 14

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to update all affected macOS devices to Sonoma 14 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed with improved access checks. Until patching is possible, organizations should enforce strict application control policies to limit which apps can run on macOS endpoints, especially restricting apps that request access to removable volumes. Endpoint protection solutions should be configured to monitor and alert on unusual access to removable media. User education is important to reduce risky behaviors such as running untrusted applications or connecting unknown removable drives. Additionally, implementing device control policies to restrict or log the use of removable storage can reduce the attack surface. For highly sensitive environments, consider disabling or tightly controlling removable media usage on macOS devices. Regular audits of app permissions and system logs can help detect attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Finally, integrating this vulnerability into vulnerability management and patching workflows ensures timely remediation.

Description

A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14. An app may be able to access removable volumes without user consent.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk to the confidentiality of sensitive data stored on removable media connected to macOS devices. Attackers or malicious applications with local access could exploit this flaw to read confidential files without user consent, potentially leading to data leakage or exposure of intellectual property, personal data, or regulated information. This is especially critical for sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal, and government agencies that handle sensitive or regulated data on portable storage. Although exploitation requires user interaction and local access, the risk increases in environments where users frequently connect removable drives or where endpoint security controls are lax. The lack of impact on integrity and availability limits the scope of damage, but unauthorized data disclosure alone can have severe compliance and reputational consequences under regulations like GDPR. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the need for prompt remediation. Organizations with macOS endpoints should consider this vulnerability in their risk assessments and incident response planning.

CWE-285Improper Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that you perform access control checks related to your business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that you apply to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (opens in a new tab)
Cross Zone Scripting (opens in a new tab)
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
Subverting Environment Variable Values (opens in a new tab)
Using Malicious Files (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 19:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-285

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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