macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2025-43237

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6. An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination.

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 · moderate confidence

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in macOS Sequoia allows a malicious application to write data beyond allocated memory boundaries due to insufficient bounds checking. This memory corruption issue can be triggered by any app, leading to unexpected system termination (denial of service). The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 9.8 indicating critical severity.

MitigationApply macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later via Apple Software Update to remediate the out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Organizations should prioritize updating affected endpoints given the critical severity and low attack complexity.

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:< 15.6

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify installed macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or open System Settings > General > About
    Affected if The displayed version is below 15.6
  2. Confirm the OS is macOS Sequoia
    Version 15.x corresponds to macOS Sequoia; check that the major version is 15
    Affected if The OS is not version 15.x (Sequoia) but runs a different macOS release
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare your installed version number to the affected range: any version less than 15.6 is vulnerable
    Affected if Your macOS version is 15.0 through 15.5 (any build below 15.6)

You are affected if your system runs macOS Sequoia version 15.0 through 15.5; check System Settings > General > About to confirm your exact version number.

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 15.6 or later
Fixed in 15.6
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later via Apple Software Update to remediate the out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Organizations should prioritize updating affected endpoints given the critical severity and low attack complexity.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Sequoia 15.6

  1. Back up your Mac using Time Machine before proceeding with the update
  2. Connect your Mac to power to prevent interruption during the update process
  3. Open System Settings on your Mac
  4. Click on "General" in the sidebar
  5. Select "Software Update"
  6. If macOS Sequoia 15.6 is available, click "Update Now" to install it
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions and restart your Mac when prompted to complete the installation
  8. After restarting, verify the update by going to Apple menu > About This Mac to confirm macOS 15.6 is installed
Caveat Review app compatibility before upgrading; some older 32-bit apps may not function on Sequoia

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

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-43237 — 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-2025-43237 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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