macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2025-43512

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.8.3 / 15.7.3 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 logic issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3, macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, macOS Tahoe 26.2. An app may be able to elevate privileges.

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

A logic flaw in Apple operating systems allows a malicious application to bypass authorization checks and elevate privileges to higher permission levels. The fix involves improved validation checks within the affected OS components.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 18.7.3, iPadOS 18.7.3, macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, or macOS Tahoe 26.2) to all affected devices to remediate the privilege escalation 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:< 14.8.3>= 15.0, < 15.7.3

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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. Identify macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal to get the installed macOS version number (e.g., 14.6.1 or 15.4)
    Affected if The version displayed is below 14.8.3, or is 15.0 through 15.7.2 (this includes unpatched macOS Sonoma and Sequoia installations)

Your macOS installation is affected if it is any version of macOS Sonoma before 14.8.3, or macOS Sequoia between 15.0 and 15.7.2 inclusive.

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 14.8.3 / 15.7.3 or later
Fixed in 14.8.315.7.3
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 18.7.3, iPadOS 18.7.3, macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, or macOS Tahoe 26.2) to all affected devices to remediate the privilege escalation vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Sonoma 14.8.3 or macOS Sequoia 15.7.3

  1. Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution before applying system updates
  2. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
  3. Click on 'General' and then select 'Software Update'
  4. Allow macOS to check for available updates
  5. If macOS Sonoma (14.x) is installed, locate and install the update to version 14.8.3 or later
  6. If macOS Sequoia (15.x) is installed, locate and install the update to version 15.7.3 or later
  7. Restart your Mac when prompted to complete the installation
  8. After restarting, verify the update was successful by returning to Software Update and confirming 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
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-43512 — 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-2025-43512 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