CVE-2025-24272: Apple macOS Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-24272 Overview

CVE-2025-24272 is an access control vulnerability [CWE-284] affecting multiple versions of Apple macOS. The flaw allows a malicious application to modify protected parts of the file system that should be restricted by macOS security controls. Apple addressed the issue with improved checks in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura 13.7.5. The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 6.8 and requires user interaction to exploit. No public exploit code or in-the-wild exploitation has been documented at the time of publication.

Critical Impact
An application running on an unpatched macOS system can modify protected file system regions, undermining integrity guarantees enforced by System Integrity Protection (SIP) and related macOS security controls.

Affected Products

Apple macOS Ventura (versions prior to 13.7.5)
Apple macOS Sonoma (versions prior to 14.7.5)
Apple macOS Sequoia (versions prior to 15.4)

Discovery Timeline

2025-03-31 - CVE-2025-24272 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24272

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-284] Improper Access Control. Apple's advisory states that the flaw permitted an application to modify protected parts of the file system. On macOS, protected file system regions include locations guarded by System Integrity Protection (SIP), sandbox-restricted paths, and directories requiring elevated entitlements. Modification of these regions can enable persistence, tampering with system binaries, or subverting security policy enforcement.

Apple resolved the flaw by introducing improved checks. This language typically indicates that the vulnerable code path failed to correctly validate the target of a file operation, or accepted requests that should have been denied based on entitlement or path evaluation.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient access-control validation on a file system operation exposed to unprivileged applications. Without stronger checks, an application can direct writes toward paths that Apple's security architecture designates as protected. The fix strengthens validation to enforce the intended trust boundary between user-installed applications and system-owned file system regions.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an attacker to deliver and run a crafted application on the target macOS system, and requires user interaction. Once executed, the application abuses the weak access control to write to protected file system locations. The CVSS vector indicates network delivery is feasible, high attack complexity, no privileges required, and high impact to integrity and availability with no direct impact to confidentiality. The EPSS score is 0.608% (44.98 percentile), reflecting a low modeled likelihood of exploitation in the near term.

Detailed technical write-ups are available via the Full Disclosure April 2025 #8, Full Disclosure April 2025 #9, and Full Disclosure April 2025 #10 postings.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24272

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modification, creation, or deletion of files under SIP-protected paths such as /System, /usr (excluding /usr/local), /bin, and /sbin.
Applications outside /Applications or /System/Applications issuing write operations to system-owned directories.
macOS system.log or unified log entries referencing sandbox or SIP violations tied to non-Apple-signed processes.
Newly written launch daemons or agents under /Library/LaunchDaemons and /Library/LaunchAgents originating from unsigned or ad-hoc-signed binaries.

Detection Strategies

Establish a file integrity baseline for protected macOS directories and alert on deviations.
Correlate process execution events with subsequent write operations targeting system paths.
Hunt for macOS Endpoint Security framework events (ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_WRITE, ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_RENAME) against protected paths from non-platform binaries.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor macOS unified logs for com.apple.sandbox and com.apple.security subsystem denials followed by successful file operations.
Track macOS OS version and build number across the fleet to identify hosts still running versions earlier than 13.7.5, 14.7.5, or 15.4.
Alert on privileged installer or helper tool invocations that write to system locations without a corresponding signed vendor package.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24272

Immediate Actions Required

Update affected endpoints to macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, or macOS Ventura 13.7.5, whichever is applicable to each device.
Inventory macOS hosts and prioritize patching for systems used by administrators, developers, and executives, where malicious applications are more likely to be delivered via social engineering.
Verify that System Integrity Protection is enabled on all managed Macs using csrutil status.

Patch Information

Apple released fixes across three supported macOS trains. See Apple Support Article #122373, Apple Support Article #122374, and Apple Support Article #122375 for the corresponding security content and installation instructions.

Workarounds

Restrict application installation to signed and notarized software distributed via approved channels, enforced through MDM configuration profiles.
Enforce Gatekeeper policies that block execution of applications from unidentified developers.
Limit user privileges so that day-to-day accounts cannot approve installers or elevate to administrator without workflow controls.

bash

# Verify macOS build and SIP status on managed endpoints
sw_vers -productVersion
csrutil status

# Trigger a software update check to obtain the fixed macOS release
sudo softwareupdate --list
sudo softwareupdate --install --all --restart