CVE-2025-46282: Apple Safari Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-46282 Overview

CVE-2025-46282 is a medium severity permission-related vulnerability affecting Apple Safari and macOS Tahoe. The flaw stems from insufficient permission checks that allow a local application to access sensitive user data without proper authorization. Apple addressed the issue by introducing additional permissions checks in Safari 26.2 and macOS Tahoe 26.2. The vulnerability is categorized under [CWE-284] (Improper Access Control) and requires local access with low privileges to exploit. No public proof-of-concept code or active exploitation has been reported.

Critical Impact
A local application with low-privilege access can read sensitive user data on affected Apple systems, breaching confidentiality boundaries enforced by the operating system.

Affected Products

Apple Safari (versions prior to 26.2)
Apple macOS Tahoe (versions prior to 26.2)
Applications relying on Safari components for data handling

Discovery Timeline

2025-12-17 - CVE-2025-46282 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46282

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in Apple Safari and macOS Tahoe, where permission checks did not sufficiently restrict access to protected user data. Apple's advisory describes the fix as adding supplemental permissions checks, indicating that an authorization gate was missing or incomplete in the vulnerable code paths. An application running locally on the system can exploit this gap to read sensitive information that should be gated behind user consent or system entitlements. The flaw does not require user interaction, which lowers the barrier to exploitation once an attacker achieves local code execution. Apple has not released detailed technical analysis of the affected component, so the specific data categories exposed remain undisclosed.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper access control, classified as [CWE-284]. Code paths within Safari and macOS Tahoe performed privileged operations without validating whether the calling application held the necessary entitlements. Apple's fix introduces additional permissions checks at these boundaries, enforcing the authorization model the original design intended.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access to the target system. An attacker must execute code on the device, either through a malicious application the user installs or through chained exploitation that delivers a local payload. Once running, the malicious app invokes the vulnerable Safari or macOS Tahoe interface and retrieves sensitive user data without triggering the permission prompts users expect. The impact is confined to data confidentiality; the vulnerability does not permit modification or denial of service.

No verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available. For additional technical context, refer to the Apple Support Article 125886 and Apple Support Article 125892.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46282

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected invocations of Safari-related inter-process communication (IPC) interfaces by non-browser applications.
Applications accessing user data stores (keychain, browsing history, cookies) without corresponding Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) prompts.
Installation of unsigned or recently sideloaded applications on macOS Tahoe systems prior to patching.

Detection Strategies

Monitor endpoint telemetry for processes that read Safari profile directories or interact with WebKit services outside of expected browser launches.
Correlate TCC database modifications with process execution events to spot bypassed consent prompts.
Hunt for anomalous access to ~/Library/Safari/ and ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/ by non-Apple binaries.

Monitoring Recommendations

Audit installed application inventory to confirm all macOS endpoints are running macOS Tahoe 26.2 or later.
Enable extended endpoint logging via endpoint security framework events, specifically ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_OPEN on sensitive user data paths.
Alert on applications with low prevalence that request Safari-related entitlements or query browser state.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46282

Immediate Actions Required

Update Safari to version 26.2 and macOS to Tahoe 26.2 across all managed endpoints.
Inventory third-party applications with access to Safari data stores and remove any that are not business-critical.
Enforce application allowlisting to block unknown or unsigned applications from executing on managed macOS systems.

Patch Information

Apple has released fixes in Safari 26.2 and macOS Tahoe 26.2. Patch details are published in Apple Support Article 125886 and Apple Support Article 125892. Administrators should deploy updates through Mobile Device Management (MDM) profiles or Apple's Software Update mechanism.

Workarounds

Restrict installation of untrusted applications using Gatekeeper and MDM-enforced policies until patches are deployed.
Limit local user accounts to standard (non-administrative) privileges to reduce the pool of applications that can be installed.
Monitor and remove applications requesting unnecessary access to browser data directories.

bash

# Verify Safari and macOS versions on affected endpoints
sw_vers -productVersion
defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString

# Trigger software update check via command line
sudo softwareupdate --list
sudo softwareupdate --install --all --restart