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CVE-2025-24085Apple Multiple Products Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Patch nowCritical10.0Exploited, CISA due date 2025-02-19EPSS 17%, higher than 97% of scored CVEs

CVE-2025-24085 is a use after free in Apple iOS and iPadOS, rated critical (10.0 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

Code keeps using memory after releasing it, so an attacker who refills that memory can steer execution.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.

What an attacker gains

A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code. The damage can spread past the vulnerable component into others.

Is it being exploited?

CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-01-29: it is being exploited in the wild. It can be exploited automatically, at scale. EPSS estimates a 17% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 97% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2025-02-19.
  2. Apply the update for your edition of Apple iOS and iPadOS. Fixed builds: iOS and iPadOS: 18.3; iPadOS: 17.7.6. Other affected products have their own fixed versions on this page. The patch notes are linked below.
  3. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
  4. Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.

Description from NVD

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3, iPadOS 17.7.6, macOS Sequoia 15.3, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, macOS Ventura 13.7.5, tvOS 18.3, visionOS 2.3, watchOS 11.3. A malicious application may be able to elevate privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 17.2.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

  • Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
  • Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
  • Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.

Trust boundaries in play

  • Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
  • Isolation between components. The impact crosses out of the vulnerable component into others it should be isolated from.
  • Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.

Questions to answer about your own systems

  • Where does Apple iOS and iPadOS run in your systems, and at which version?
  • Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
  • What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

Sources

  • CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
  • Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
  • Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
  • Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.