VulnerabilityPublished 12 Dec 2025Updated 2 Apr 2026

CVE-2025-43516: Apple macOS · A user with Voice Control enabled may be able to transcribe another user's activity

Affects Apple macOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.3 Low · fixed in 15.7.3 : update Apple macOS when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.3Low

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 5% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 15.7.3

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
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 12 Dec 2025
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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apple macOS	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-43516, organizations and users should promptly update affected macOS systems to the patched versions: Sequoia 15.7.3, Sonoma 14.8.3, or Tahoe 26.2. Beyond patching, administrators should review and restrict Voice Control usage to trusted users only, especially on shared or multi-user devices. Implement strict user account separation and limit local user privileges to reduce the risk of unauthorized access. Consider disabling Voice Control on systems where it is not essential or where sensitive voice data is handled. Additionally, monitor system logs for unusual Voice Control activity and educate users about the risks of enabling voice transcription features in shared environments. Employ endpoint security solutions that can detect anomalous local privilege escalations or suspicious session activities. Finally, enforce physical security controls to prevent unauthorized local access to macOS devices.

Description

A session management issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, macOS Tahoe 26.2. A user with Voice Control enabled may be able to transcribe another user's activity.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-43516 is a confidentiality breach where a user with Voice Control enabled can eavesdrop on or transcribe another user's voice activity on the same macOS device. This could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or private information spoken by other users. While the vulnerability does not affect system integrity or availability, the exposure of voice data could have privacy implications, especially in shared or multi-user environments such as corporate workstations, educational institutions, or public kiosks. The requirement for local privileges limits remote exploitation, reducing the overall risk for organizations with strict access controls. However, in environments where multiple users share a device or where user accounts are not strongly isolated, this vulnerability could be exploited to gather confidential information. The absence of known exploits in the wild and the low CVSS score suggest a limited but non-negligible threat, particularly for organizations handling sensitive voice data or requiring strict user privacy.

CWE-384Session Fixation (opens in a new tab)
Compound weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal authenticated sessions.
Architecture and Design
Invalidate any existing session identifiers prior to authorizing a new user session.
Architecture and Design
For platforms such as ASP that do not generate new values for sessionid cookies, utilize a secondary cookie. In this approach, set a secondary cookie on the user's browser to a random value and set a session variable to the same value.
Operation · Firewall
Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Session Management (opens in a new tab)
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V3.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Session Credential Falsification through Forging (opens in a new tab)
Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Opaque Client-based Data Tokens (opens in a new tab)
Session Credential Falsification through Prediction (opens in a new tab)
Reusing Session IDs (aka Session Replay) (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 3 Apr 2026, 02:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-384

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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