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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-43298: Apple macOS · An app may be able to gain root privileges

Affects Apple macOSSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High · fixed in 15.7 : patch Apple macOS soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 15% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 15.7
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 15 Sep 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Apple macOSAffected
  • =0
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

  1. Immediate application of security updates: Deploy macOS Sequoia 15.7, Sonoma 14.8, or Tahoe 26 patches that address the path validation flaw.
  2. Restrict installation of untrusted or unsigned applications to reduce the risk of malicious apps gaining initial foothold.
  3. Employ endpoint protection solutions capable of detecting suspicious privilege escalation attempts or anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation.
  4. Implement strict user privilege management, limiting local user rights to the minimum necessary to reduce the attack surface.
  5. Monitor system logs and audit trails for unusual directory path manipulations or access patterns that could signal exploitation attempts.
  6. Use application whitelisting and macOS’s built-in security features such as System Integrity Protection (SIP) and Gatekeeper to prevent unauthorized code execution.
  7. Educate users about the risks of running unverified software and the importance of timely system updates.
  8. For high-security environments, consider additional hardening measures such as disabling unnecessary local accounts and enforcing multi-factor authentication for administrative access.

Description

A parsing issue in the handling of directory paths was addressed with improved path validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8, macOS Tahoe 26. An app may be able to gain root privileges.

References

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