Overview
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system recently identified a critical vulnerability, CVE-2025-43222, affecting several versions of macOS and iPadOS. This use-after-free vulnerability can potentially enable an attacker to cause unexpected app termination, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage. Given the severity of this vulnerability, and the widespread use of macOS and iPadOS, it’s crucial for users and system administrators to understand the risk and take immediate steps to mitigate the potential impact.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-43222
Severity: Critical (CVSS score 9.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unexpected app termination, potential system compromise, and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
macOS Sequoia | Before 15.6
iPadOS | Before 17.7.9
macOS Ventura | Before 13.7.7
macOS Sonoma | Before 14.7.7
How the Exploit Works
The CVE-2025-43222 vulnerability arises from a use-after-free issue within the macOS and iPadOS systems. This error type occurs when the system continues to use memory after it has been freed, potentially leading to unpredictable behavior, including application crashes and the execution of arbitrary code. In this case, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability by inducing a user to run a specially crafted application, which would then trigger the use-after-free condition.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudocode illustrates a scenario where an attacker’s malicious application triggers the use-after-free condition:
def malicious_app():
# Allocate memory for object
obj = alloc_object()
# Use the object
use_object(obj)
# Free the object
free_object(obj)
# Here comes the use-after-free vulnerability
# The object is used again after being freed
use_object(obj)
# This can lead to arbitrary code execution
execute_arbitrary_code()This pseudocode does not represent a genuine exploit, but it serves to illustrate the nature of a use-after-free vulnerability.
Mitigation Guidance
The primary mitigation for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-supplied patches. Apple has addressed the issue in macOS Sequoia 15.6, iPadOS 17.7.9, macOS Ventura 13.7.7, and macOS Sonoma 14.7.7. Users and administrators should ensure their systems are updated to these versions or later. As a temporary mitigation, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can help detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.