macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2025-24196

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.7.5 / 15.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A type confusion issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5. An attacker with user privileges may be able to read kernel memory.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A type confusion vulnerability in macOS kernel allows a local attacker with standard user privileges to read kernel memory due to improper memory handling during certain operations.

MitigationApply the vendor security updates: macOS Sequoia 15.4 or macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 to patch the kernel memory handling vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 14.0, < 14.7.5>= 15.0, < 15.4

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine the installed macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal to obtain the exact macOS version number
    Affected if The version displayed is 14.0 through 14.7.4, or 15.0 through 15.3.x (any version below 14.7.5 or 15.4)
  2. Identify the macOS release name
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' and note whether the major version corresponds to Sonoma (14.x) or Sequoia (15.x)
    Affected if Running Sonoma 14.x below 14.7.5 or Sequoia 15.x below 15.4
  3. Verify kernel version as secondary confirmation
    Run 'uname -r' to check the kernel release version, though this may not directly map to the security update version
    Affected if Kernel version corresponds to an unpatched macOS release within the affected ranges

The system is affected if it runs macOS Sonoma 14.0-14.7.4 or macOS Sequoia 15.0-15.3, as these versions contain the vulnerable kernel memory handling code that allows unauthorized kernel memory reads.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 14.7.5 / 15.4 or later
Fixed in 14.7.515.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor security updates: macOS Sequoia 15.4 or macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 to patch the kernel memory handling vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 or macOS Sequoia 15.4

  1. Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution before upgrading
  2. Upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 if running macOS 14.x (Sonoma), or upgrade to macOS Sequoia 15.4 if running macOS 15.x
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking System Settings > General > About to confirm the installed version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-24196 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-24196 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data