CVE-2025-43251
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 · uneditedAn authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6. A local attacker may gain access to Keychain items.
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 confidenceA local authorization vulnerability in macOS allows an attacker to bypass state management checks and access Keychain items without proper authentication. The issue was addressed with improved state validation in macOS Sequoia 15.6.
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< 15.6CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed macOS versionRun 'sw_vers -ProductVersion' in Terminal or go to System Settings > General > About to view the macOS version numberAffected if The version is below 15.6 (e.g., 15.5, 15.4, 14.x, 13.x, etc.)
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Verify Keychain access configurationOpen Keychain Access app and attempt to access any keychain item. Check if the system prompts for authentication or allows access without promptsAffected if Keychain items are accessible without proper authentication prompts due to state management bypass
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Confirm system is not patched to 15.6 or laterRun 'softwareupdate --list' in Terminal to check available updates, or check System Settings > General > Software Update for available updatesAffected if No 15.6 or later update is installed and the current version remains below 15.6
You are affected if your macOS version is below 15.6 and you use Keychain to store sensitive credentials, as the state management bypass allows unauthorized Keychain access.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped15.6
Apply macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later security update to all affected macOS systems to remediate the Keychain authorization bypass.
macOS Sequoia 15.6
- Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution before updating
- Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
- Navigate to General → Software Update
- Wait for macOS Sequoia 15.6 to appear in the available updates
- Click Update Now or download and install the update
- Restart your Mac when prompted to complete the installation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-43251 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-43251 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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