Detect Apple Multiple Products Improper Locking Vulnerability (CVE-2025-43510) in Elastic Security
CVE-2025-43510 is an improper locking vulnerability (CWE-667) affecting multiple Apple products, including macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. This flaw, added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, allows an attacker with local access to potentially exploit race conditions arising from improper mutex or lock management, leading to privilege escalation, memory corruption, or kernel-level code execution. Detection focuses on anomalous kernel panics, unexpected privilege escalations, exploitation of race conditions, and post-exploitation indicators on Apple endpoints.
MITRE ATT&CK
Elastic Detection Query
sequence by host.name, user.name with maxspan=5m
[process where host.os.family == "macos"
and event.action in ("start", "fork")
and not user.name in ("root", "_daemon", "_windowserver", "_mdnsresponder")
and process.name in ("bash", "zsh", "sh", "python3", "osascript", "perl")
]
[process where host.os.family == "macos"
and event.action == "start"
and (
process.args : ("*pthread_mutex*", "*dispatch_semaphore*", "*OSSpinLock*", "*os_unfair_lock*") or
user.effective.id == 0 and user.id != "0"
)
]
| head 200EQL sequence rule correlating shell process spawning with subsequent privilege escalation or locking API usage on macOS hosts, indicative of CVE-2025-43510 exploitation via race condition abuse.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Build systems running parallel compilation jobs may match locking patterns
- Automated testing frameworks may spawn multiple privileged processes
- System administrators using terminal scripts with sudo may trigger sequence matches
- Python-based automation tools (Ansible, Fabric) may exhibit similar process chains
Other platforms for CVE-2025-43510
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 4 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1Simulate Race Condition Privilege Escalation via pthread_mutex (macOS)
Expected signal: EDR process creation event for gcc compiling /tmp/race_test.c, followed by execution of /tmp/race_test. System call `id` execution from child process. No kernel-level events expected in this benign simulation.
- Test 2LaunchDaemon Persistence Installation Post-Exploitation Simulation (macOS)
Expected signal: File creation event for /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.test.cve202543510.plist (CrowdStrike CriticalFileAccessed or equivalent), launchctl process execution events, bash child process spawning from launchd after load.
- Test 3Kernel Locking Stress Test via dispatch_semaphore Abuse (macOS)
Expected signal: Swift compiler process event (swiftc or swift), followed by execution of the compiled binary. Process command line should contain references to lock_abuse.swift. DispatchSemaphore usage may appear in dynamic analysis but not typically in static command-line telemetry.
- Test 4Non-Root to Root Privilege Escalation Simulation via SUID Binary (macOS)
Expected signal: gcc compilation event in /tmp, chmod 4755 file permission change event (CrowdStrike FileAttributeChange), SUID binary execution showing effective UID 0, whoami and id child process executions returning 'root'.
References (9)
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125632
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125633
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125634
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125635
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125636
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125637
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125638
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/125639
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-43510
Unlock Pro Content
Get the full detection package for CVE-2025-43510 including response playbook, investigation guide, and atomic red team tests.