Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 8 May 2025.
macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2025-31201

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.4.1 / 15.4.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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
This issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, visionOS 2.4.1. An attacker with arbitrary read and write capability may be able to bypass Pointer Authentication. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on iOS.

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

This is a pointer authentication code (PAC) bypass vulnerability in multiple Apple operating systems. An attacker with arbitrary read/write capability could circumvent PAC checks, which are a critical memory protection mechanism. The vulnerability was addressed by removing the vulnerable code, and Apple notes it may have been exploited in highly targeted attacks.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied updates: iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, or visionOS 2.4.1 depending on the affected device.

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:>= 15.0, < 15.4.1
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 18.4.1
VisionosOperating system
Affected:< 2.4.1
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 18.4.1
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 18.4.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Check the installed operating system version
    On macOS, run 'sw_vers' in Terminal or go to System Settings > General > About. On iOS/iPadOS, go to Settings > General > About. On tvOS/visionOS, go to Settings > General > About.
    Affected if The version falls within any of these affected ranges: macOS 15.0 to 15.4.0, iOS < 18.4.1, iPadOS < 18.4.1, tvOS < 18.4.1, or visionOS < 2.4.1

If the device runs any of the affected OS versions (macOS 15.0-15.4.0, iOS/iPadOS/tvOS before 18.4.1, or visionOS before 2.4.1), the device contains the vulnerable code that was removed in the patches and may be exploitable in targeted attacks.

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 2.4.1 / 15.4.1 / 18.4.1 or later
Fixed in 2.4.115.4.118.4.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied updates: iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, or visionOS 2.4.1 depending on the affected device.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 18.4.1 / iPadOS 18.4.1 / macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 / tvOS 18.4.1 / visionOS 2.4.1

  1. Upgrade iOS devices to iOS 18.4.1 or later
  2. Upgrade iPadOS devices to iPadOS 18.4.1 or later
  3. Upgrade macOS devices to macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 or later
  4. Upgrade tvOS devices to tvOS 18.4.1 or later
  5. Upgrade visionOS devices to visionOS 2.4.1 or later
  6. After upgrading, ensure the device is not running any unauthorized software or jailbreaks
Caveat Standard OS upgrade considerations apply - review app compatibility before upgrading production devices

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in macOS Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-31201 — 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-2025-31201 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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