CVE Alert: CVE-2025-43300 – Apple – macOS

Risk verdict

Urgent: active exploitation is acknowledged, with high potential impact on exposed Apple devices.

Why this matters

The flaw enables remote memory corruption via processing a malicious image, enabling total compromise on an unpatched host after user interaction. Because the attack is targeted and can be executed over a network path, organisations risk rapid device takeover, data exfiltration, and potential persistence on endpoints used by privileged individuals or high-value targets.

Most likely attack path

• Attack vector: network-delivered image payload, requiring the user to open/view it.
• Preconditions: no privileges required; low attacker effort and skill due to low complexity; high impact if successful.
• Outcome: successful exploitation yields complete compromise of the host with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact; subsequent lateral movement is possible within the single-asset scope but broader expansion depends on additional footholds.

Who is most exposed

Devices running affected Apple OS versions (macOS, iOS, iPadOS) that have not yet been patched are at risk, particularly in organisations with delayed or incomplete deployment of updates to desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.

Detection ideas

• Look for crashes or memory-corruption events tied to image processing in system logs.
• Monitor for attempted or successful remote image rendering exploits from untrusted sources.
• Elevated fail-closed conditions: unusual device restarts, kernel or system panics following image handling.
• Indicator of compromise related to unusual image parsing processes or anomalous memory writes.
• Correlation with user reports of targeted spear-phishing messages containing image attachments.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply the latest Apple OS updates to all affected devices (patched builds listed in advisories).
• Enforce rapid deployment via MDM for macOS and iOS/iPadOS updates; test in a controlled cohort first.
• Limit exposure by blocking untrusted image sources and tightening image-rendering features where feasible.
• Enhance endpoint monitoring for memory-corruption indicators and post-exploitation activity; enable enhanced logging around image processing.
• If KEV/EPSS data become available, adjust to priority 1 accordingly.