Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-31200

Memory Safety in Apple Macos 15.0 – 15.4.1

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCMemory Safety
Published
16 April 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
KEV Added
17 April 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.20 97th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-31200 is a critical-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Process Injection (T1055); ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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.

A memory corruption vulnerability addressed through improved bounds checking affects the processing of audio streams within media files on multiple Apple platforms. Impacted software includes iOS and iPadOS prior to 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia prior to 15.4.1, tvOS prior to 18.4.1, visionOS prior to 2.4.1, and watchOS prior to 11.5. The flaw is tracked as CWE-119 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible exploitation without authentication or user interaction.

An attacker can supply a maliciously crafted media file containing a specially formed audio stream. Successful exploitation grants arbitrary code execution on the target device. Apple has stated that the issue was used in an extremely sophisticated, targeted attack against specific individuals on older iOS versions.

Apple security advisories for the listed updates confirm that installing iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, visionOS 2.4.1, or watchOS 11.5 resolves the vulnerability. The referenced support documents detail the affected builds and direct users to apply the patches.

The EPSS score remains low, with a current value of 0.0170 and a peak of 0.0212, indicating limited broad exploitation interest following disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, visionOS 2.4.1, watchOS 11.5. Processing an audio stream in a maliciously crafted media file may…

more

result in code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on versions of iOS released before iOS 18.4.1.

CWE(s)
CWE-119
KEV Date Added
17 April 2025

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt 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 →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
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 →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-20700Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2025-43186Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-31219Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-43398Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-64758Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20654Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43673Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-64726Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-64716Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28990Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
macos
15.0 — 15.4.1
apple
tvos
≤ 18.4.1
apple
visionos
≤ 2.4.1
apple
ipados
≤ 18.4.1
apple
iphone os
≤ 18.4.1
apple
watchos
≤ 11.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require memory-safe design and coding that structurally avoids buffer-boundary violations.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation directly enforces bounds checking that stops out-of-bounds reads/writes from being introduced or reached.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection restricts exploitation impact of buffer overflows without eliminating the underlying coding flaw.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (bounds checking, safe APIs, reviews) directly prevent this class of flaw.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

References