CVE-2025-43292 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Apple macOS operating systems, specifically addressed in macOS Sequoia 15.7 and macOS Tahoe 26. The vulnerability arises from a race condition, classified under CWE-362, which involves improper handling of concurrent operations leading to a state where an application may gain unauthorized access to sensitive user data. A race condition occurs when the timing or sequence of events can be manipulated to cause unintended behavior, in this case allowing an app to bypass normal access controls. The vulnerability does not require privileges (PR:N) but does require user interaction (UI:R), such as running or opening the malicious app. The attack vector is local (AV:L), meaning the attacker must have local access to the system. The impact is high on confidentiality (C:H), with no impact on integrity (I:N) or availability (A:N). This suggests that while the attacker cannot modify or disrupt system operations, they can read sensitive data they should not have access to. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5, indicating a medium severity level. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and the issue was addressed by Apple through improved state handling to prevent the race condition. The affected versions are unspecified, but the fix is included in the latest macOS releases mentioned. This vulnerability is significant because macOS is widely used in enterprise and personal environments, and unauthorized access to sensitive data can lead to privacy breaches, intellectual property theft, or further exploitation.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to confidentiality of sensitive information stored or processed on macOS devices. Organizations with employees or systems running vulnerable macOS versions could face data leakage if a malicious app is executed locally. This is particularly concerning for sectors handling sensitive personal data (e.g., GDPR-regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and legal services) where unauthorized data access could lead to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. The requirement for local access and user interaction limits remote exploitation but insider threats or social engineering attacks could leverage this vulnerability. Additionally, organizations relying on macOS for development, research, or intellectual property management may risk exposure of proprietary information. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers may develop exploits once the vulnerability details are public. Therefore, European organizations must prioritize patching and user awareness to mitigate potential exploitation.

1. Immediate deployment of the security updates provided in macOS Sequoia 15.7 and macOS Tahoe 26 across all organizational macOS devices to ensure the race condition is resolved. 2. Implement strict application control policies using Apple’s built-in tools such as Gatekeeper and System Integrity Protection (SIP) to prevent execution of unauthorized or untrusted applications that could exploit this vulnerability. 3. Enhance endpoint security by employing advanced threat detection solutions capable of monitoring for suspicious local app behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 4. Conduct user training focused on recognizing and avoiding execution of untrusted applications, emphasizing the risk of local app-based attacks requiring user interaction. 5. Regularly audit and inventory macOS devices to identify and remediate any that remain unpatched or are running unsupported versions. 6. Employ least privilege principles to limit user permissions on macOS systems, reducing the potential impact of local exploitation. 7. Monitor logs and system behavior for anomalies that could indicate attempts to exploit race conditions or unauthorized data access.