CVE-2025-43318 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Apple macOS systems prior to the release of macOS Tahoe 26. The flaw arises because an application running with root privileges may bypass certain entitlement checks, enabling it to access private information that should otherwise be restricted. Entitlements in macOS are security mechanisms that define the capabilities and permissions of an app; improper or missing entitlement verification can lead to unauthorized data access. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-862, which pertains to improper authorization, indicating that the system fails to adequately verify whether a privileged app is authorized to access sensitive data. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 6.2, reflecting a medium impact primarily on confidentiality, with no impact on integrity or availability. The attack vector is local (AV:L), requiring the attacker to have local access to the system but no prior privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N). The vulnerability does not require user interaction and affects confidentiality only. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and the affected versions are unspecified, but the issue is resolved in macOS Tahoe 26 by implementing additional entitlement checks to prevent unauthorized access by root-privileged apps.

For European organizations using macOS systems, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or private information if an attacker can execute or install an application with root privileges locally. Although exploitation requires local access, the potential for data leakage is significant, especially in environments where macOS devices handle confidential business, personal, or regulatory data. This could impact sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal, and government agencies that rely on macOS endpoints. The confidentiality breach could lead to compliance violations under GDPR, reputational damage, and potential financial losses. Since the vulnerability does not affect system integrity or availability, the primary concern is unauthorized data exposure rather than system disruption. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity and root-level access requirement mean organizations should prioritize patching to prevent potential future exploitation.

European organizations should ensure all macOS devices are updated promptly to macOS Tahoe 26 or later, where the entitlement checks have been strengthened to mitigate this vulnerability. Since the vulnerability requires local access with root privileges, organizations should enforce strict access controls and limit administrative privileges to trusted personnel only. Implement endpoint security solutions that monitor and restrict unauthorized application installations and privilege escalations. Regularly audit and review user accounts and permissions to minimize the risk of privilege misuse. Employ application whitelisting to prevent unapproved apps from running with elevated privileges. Additionally, organizations should maintain robust physical security controls to prevent unauthorized local access to devices. Finally, monitoring system logs for unusual root-level activities can help detect potential exploitation attempts early.