Actively exploited · Published Dec 12, 2025 · Assigned by apple
CVE-2025-43520
Medium 5.5 Exploited
In plain English
A medium-severity buffer overflow in iOS and iPadOS from Apple. Attackers are actively exploiting it in the wild (listed by CISA on March 20, 2026). The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 37% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA guidance
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Federal agencies must remediate by Apr 3, 2026.
Official description
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.
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-120 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References
- 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://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/darksword-ios-exploit-chain/ third-party-advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-43520 government-resource