Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-24200

Access Control in Apple Ipados ≤ 15.8.4

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedAccess Control
Published
10 February 2025
Modified
03 April 2026
KEV Added
12 February 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.044 90th percentile
Risk Priority 75 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-24200 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 10% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-24200 is an authorization vulnerability (CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization) stemming from improper state management, affecting multiple versions of iOS and iPadOS. Specifically, it impacts iOS and iPadOS prior to iOS 15.8.4 and iPadOS 15.8.4, iOS 16.7.11 and iPadOS 16.7.11, iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1, and iPadOS 17.7.5. The flaw enables a physical attack to disable USB Restricted Mode on a locked device, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.1 (AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N).

An attacker with physical access to the device can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no privileges or user interaction required. Successful exploitation disables USB Restricted Mode while the device remains locked, potentially granting high-impact access to confidential data and enabling integrity modifications without affecting availability.

Apple's security advisories detail mitigations through updated firmware releases that address the state management issue, including iOS 15.8.4, iPadOS 15.8.4, iOS 16.7.11, iPadOS 16.7.11, iOS 18.3.1, iPadOS 18.3.1, and iPadOS 17.7.5. Practitioners should prioritize patching affected devices, as referenced in Apple support documents such as https://support.apple.com/en-us/122173 and related updates.

Apple has noted awareness of a report indicating this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack targeting specific individuals.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 15.8.4 and iPadOS 15.8.4, iOS 16.7.11 and iPadOS 16.7.11, iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1, iPadOS 17.7.5. A physical attack may disable USB Restricted Mode on…

more

a locked device. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals.

CWE(s)
CWE-863
KEV Date Added
12 February 2025

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-31227Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28873Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-24141Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-44136Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-30469Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-44217Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-31254Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-24221Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-54512Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28951Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 15.8.4 · 16.0 — 16.7.11 · 17.0 — 17.7.5
apple
iphone os
≤ 15.8.4 · 16.0 — 16.7.11 · 17.0 — 18.3.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.

AC-24 Access Control Decisions good match

AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.

AC-25 Reference Monitor good match

A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege assignments shrink the set of authorizations that must be checked correctly, limiting exposure to flawed checks.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863

References