Privilege escalation via inadequate symlink validation
Published Mar 31, 2025 · Updated Apr 2, 2026
Improper privilege management in Apple macOS Software Update allows remote authenticated users to elevate privileges via symlink handling. Apple identifies inadequate symlink validation in the Software Update component but does not disclose the affected path operation or validation failure. Exploitation requires existing low privileges and can raise them to a higher privilege level; no narrower consequence has been published.
Summary
What happened
Improper privilege management in Apple macOS Software Update allows remote authenticated users to elevate privileges via symlink handling. Apple identifies inadequate symlink validation in the Software Update component but does not disclose the affected path operation or validation failure. Exploitation requires existing low privileges and can raise them to a higher privilege level; no narrower consequence has been published.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-24254
- Published
- Mar 31, 2025
- Updated
- Apr 2, 2026
- Vendor
- Apple
- Product
- macOS
- Classifications
- CWE-269, T1068
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 31, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 2, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <13.7.5
- Affected versionversion=0 <14.7.5
- Affected versionversion=0 <15.4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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