CVE-2025-43195 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Apple macOS operating systems, specifically versions prior to macOS Sequoia 15.6, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, and macOS Ventura 13.7.7. The vulnerability arises from improper handling and validation of environment variables within the OS. Environment variables are key-value pairs used by the operating system and applications to store configuration settings and other data. Improper validation can allow a malicious application to manipulate these variables in a way that leads to unauthorized access to sensitive user data. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-20, which relates to improper input validation. Exploitation requires local access (AV:L), no privileges (PR:N), and user interaction (UI:R), meaning an attacker must convince a user to run a malicious app or code locally. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (C:H) but does not affect integrity or availability. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. Apple has addressed this issue by improving validation mechanisms in environment variable handling in the specified macOS versions. This fix prevents malicious apps from exploiting the vulnerability to access sensitive user data. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.5, reflecting a medium severity due to the requirement for local access and user interaction, but with a high impact on confidentiality if exploited.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to users running vulnerable macOS versions on their endpoints. Sensitive user data could be exposed if a malicious application is executed, potentially leading to data leakage of personal or corporate information. This could affect sectors with high reliance on macOS devices, such as creative industries, software development firms, and certain financial institutions. The confidentiality breach could result in privacy violations, intellectual property theft, or exposure of sensitive business information. However, since exploitation requires local access and user interaction, the threat is somewhat mitigated by standard endpoint security practices and user awareness. Still, targeted attacks involving social engineering or insider threats could leverage this vulnerability to gain unauthorized data access. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the potential for future exploitation. Organizations with remote or hybrid workforces using macOS devices should be particularly vigilant, as these environments may increase the risk of users running untrusted applications.

European organizations should prioritize updating all macOS devices to the patched versions: macOS Sequoia 15.6, macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, or macOS Ventura 13.7.7. Beyond patching, organizations should implement strict application control policies to prevent execution of unauthorized or untrusted applications, reducing the likelihood of malicious apps exploiting this vulnerability. User education campaigns should emphasize the risks of running unknown software and the importance of verifying application sources. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions can be tuned to monitor suspicious environment variable manipulations or anomalous application behaviors. Additionally, enforcing least privilege principles and restricting local user permissions can limit the ability of malicious apps to execute or access sensitive data. Regular audits of installed applications and environment variable configurations can help identify potential exploitation attempts. For organizations using mobile device management (MDM) solutions, deploying compliance policies that enforce macOS version updates and application whitelisting will enhance security posture against this threat.