CVE-2025-24267 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 04/01/2025
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.7.5, macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5. An app may be able to gain root privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/01/2025
This vulnerability represents a critical permissions flaw that allows malicious applications to escalate their privileges to root level access on affected macOS systems. The issue stems from insufficient access controls that permit unauthorized applications to bypass normal security boundaries and execute code with the highest possible system privileges. The vulnerability affects multiple macOS versions including Ventura 13.7.5, Sequoia 15.4, and Sonoma 14.7.5, indicating a widespread impact across the operating system's current release lines. Such a privilege escalation vulnerability directly violates fundamental security principles outlined in the Common Weakness Enumeration catalog under CWE-276, which addresses improper permissions and access control mechanisms. The flaw enables an attacker to potentially gain complete system control, making it a severe concern for enterprise and individual users alike.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involves the exploitation of access control mechanisms that should normally prevent applications from executing with root privileges. This type of flaw typically occurs when the operating system fails to properly validate or enforce privilege boundaries, allowing applications to access system resources or execute privileged operations that they should not be permitted to access. The issue falls under the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation category, specifically targeting techniques that allow adversaries to gain elevated access to systems. When an application can successfully escalate to root privileges, it effectively removes all user-level security controls and can access, modify, or delete any system files and data without restriction.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally undermines the security model of macOS. An attacker with a malicious application could potentially access encrypted data, modify system configurations, install persistent backdoors, or exfiltrate sensitive information from the affected system. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where macOS systems may be running in production environments with sensitive data and critical infrastructure. The security implications are severe enough that immediate patching is required across all affected systems. Organizations should prioritize deployment of the security updates provided in macOS Ventura 13.7.5, macOS Sequoia 15.4, and macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 to remediate this vulnerability. Without proper mitigation, systems remain vulnerable to exploitation by threat actors who could leverage this flaw to establish persistent access to target environments.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate deployment of the vendor-provided security patches as specified in the affected versions. System administrators should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any potential exploitation attempts or unauthorized applications that may have been installed prior to patching. The remediation process should also involve monitoring system logs for unusual privilege escalation events and implementing additional security controls such as application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized applications from running on affected systems. Organizations should also review their existing security policies and procedures to ensure that proper access controls are maintained and that system administrators are aware of the potential risks associated with this vulnerability. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that the patched systems maintain proper security boundaries and that no unauthorized privilege escalation mechanisms remain active.