CVE-2025-24156 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting Apple macOS, classified as an integer overflow. This vulnerability allows an application to elevate privileges, potentially leading to unauthorized access or control over system resources. The CVSS score of 7.8 indicates a significant risk to affected systems. Organizations utilizing impacted versions of macOS should prioritize remediation efforts.
The vulnerability was published on January 27, 2025, and has been classified as 'Modified'. It has been assigned a CVSS version of 3.1, indicating a high level of severity due to the potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Risk to organizations includes the possibility of unauthorized privilege escalation, which can lead to further exploitation of the system. This vulnerability is particularly concerning given its local attack vector and low complexity.
Organizations should prioritize patching immediately. Updates addressing this vulnerability have been released in macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, and macOS Ventura 13.7.3.
Vulnerability Details
An integer overflow was addressed through improved input validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, and macOS Ventura 13.7.3. The relevant CWE classification is CWE-190.
The CVSS vector for this vulnerability is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating that it requires low privileges and has high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Technical Analysis
The root cause of the vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation, which can lead to an integer overflow. The attack vector is local, meaning that an attacker needs physical or logical access to the vulnerable system to exploit this issue.
The attack complexity is classified as low, indicating that the exploitation of this vulnerability does not require specialized knowledge or significant effort. Privileges required for exploitation are low, and no user interaction is necessary.
The impacts of a successful exploit include high risks to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system.
Risk & Impact Analysis
The real-world deployment risk is significant due to the potential for unauthorized privilege escalation. Organizations that do not address this vulnerability may face severe consequences, including data breaches and system integrity loss.
Given that the vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.8, it should be treated with high urgency, and organizations should address it in their priority patch cycle.
Exploitation Status
Signal | Status |
|---|---|
Known Exploit | No |
Public PoC | No |
Actively Exploited | No |
Ransomware Use | No |
Affected Versions
All versions prior to vendor patch, specifically those earlier than macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, and macOS Ventura 13.7.3.
Mitigation & Remediation
To remediate this vulnerability, organizations should upgrade to macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, or macOS Ventura 13.7.3. If a patch is unavailable, organizations should implement configuration hardening and network controls to limit access to vulnerable systems. Monitoring for unusual behavior is also recommended.
Organizations should validate remediation through penetration testing to identify similar weaknesses.
Detection Guidance
Security teams should monitor for log indicators that may signify exploitation attempts. Behavioral anomalies in application behavior and network signatures indicative of attacks should be tracked. Additionally, any unauthorized system changes should be closely monitored.
AppSecure Threat Intelligence Insight
The long-term significance of this vulnerability lies in the potential for exploitation in environments where macOS is widely used. It represents a trend of increasing privilege escalation vulnerabilities in local systems.
Security teams should learn from this incident by ensuring comprehensive testing during application development and regular security assessments. Understanding the implications of integer overflow vulnerabilities can help prevent similar issues in the future.
For further reading on security practices, organizations can refer to our penetration testing methodology and explore the importance of continuous security evaluation in modern development.
Additionally, our vulnerability management program design can assist in systematically addressing such vulnerabilities.
Finally, understanding the broader implications of vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-24156 can enhance the resilience of organizations against future threats.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
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