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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 Apr 2026.
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2025-43520

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.8.2 / 15.7.2 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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 memory corruption issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.2 and iPadOS 18.7.2, iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1, macOS Sequoia 15.7.2, macOS Sonoma 14.8.2, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, visionOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1. A malicious application may be able to cause unexpected system termination or write kernel memory.

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 · high confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Apple operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS) that allows a locally-running malicious application to either crash the system or write to kernel memory. The issue was patched via improved memory handling in the listed versions.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied updates: iOS 18.7.2/iPadOS 18.7.2 or iOS 26.1/iPadOS 26.1 for mobile devices; macOS Sequoia 15.7.2, Sonoma 14.8.2, or Tahoe 26.1 for desktops; and corresponding updates for tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS.

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
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 18.7.2= 26.0
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 18.7.2= 26.0
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 14.0, < 14.8.2>= 15.0, < 15.7.2= 26.0
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 26.1
VisionosOperating system
Affected:< 26.1
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 26.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 iOS version on iPhone
    Open Settings > General > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is less than 18.7.2 or equals 26.0
  2. Check iPadOS version on iPad
    Open Settings > General > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is less than 18.7.2 or equals 26.0
  3. Check macOS version
    Open System Settings (or System Preferences) > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is 14.0 through 14.8.1, 15.0 through 15.7.1, or equals 26.0
  4. Check tvOS version
    Open Settings > General > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is less than 26.1
  5. Check visionOS version
    Open Settings > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is less than 26.1
  6. Check watchOS version
    Open the Watch app on paired iPhone, go to General > About, and check the 'watchOS' field
    Affected if Version is less than 26.1

You are affected if your device runs any of the affected OS versions listed in the CVE and you allow untrusted or malicious local applications to execute on the device.

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 14.8.2 / 15.7.2 / 18.7.2 or later
Fixed in 14.8.215.7.218.7.2
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied updates: iOS 18.7.2/iPadOS 18.7.2 or iOS 26.1/iPadOS 26.1 for mobile devices; macOS Sequoia 15.7.2, Sonoma 14.8.2, or Tahoe 26.1 for desktops; and corresponding updates for tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 18.7.2/iPadOS 18.7.2, iOS 26.1/iPadOS 26.1, macOS Sonoma 14.8.2, macOS Sequoia 15.7.2, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, visionOS 26.1, or watchOS 26.1 (depending on device and current version)

  1. Identify the Apple device type (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, or Apple Watch)
  2. Determine the current installed OS version from Settings > General > About (iOS/iPadOS) or System Settings > General (macOS)
  3. For iPhone/iPad: If running iOS/iPadOS 18.x, upgrade to 18.7.2; if running iOS/iPadOS 26.0, upgrade to 26.1
  4. For Mac: If running macOS Sonoma (14.x), upgrade to 14.8.2; if running macOS Sequoia (15.x), upgrade to 15.7.2; if running macOS 26.0, upgrade to 26.1
  5. For Apple TV: Upgrade to tvOS 26.1
  6. For Apple Vision Pro: Upgrade to visionOS 26.1
  7. For Apple Watch: Upgrade to watchOS 26.1
  8. Install the update via Settings > General > Software Update on iOS/iPadOS/tvOS/visionOS/watchOS, or System Settings > General > Software Update on macOS

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

Fix this in Ipados Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • 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

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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-2025-43520 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