CVE-2025-31201
Apple Macos 15.0 – 15.4.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-31201 is a critical-severity Insufficient Granularity of Access Control (CWE-1220) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Services File Permissions Weakness (T1574.010); ranked in the top 4% 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 AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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-2025-31201 is a pointer authentication bypass vulnerability caused by the presence of flawed code in multiple Apple operating systems. The affected platforms include iOS 18.4 and earlier, iPadOS 18.4 and earlier, macOS Sequoia 15.4 and earlier, tvOS 18.4 and earlier, and visionOS 2.4 and earlier. The issue was resolved by removing the vulnerable code in the 18.4.1/15.4.1 point releases.
An attacker who already possesses arbitrary read and write primitives can leverage the flaw to bypass pointer authentication protections. This capability could be used to subvert memory safety mechanisms and potentially achieve elevated code execution on the device. Apple has stated that it is aware of reporting indicating the vulnerability was used in an extremely sophisticated, targeted attack against specific individuals on iOS.
Apple security advisories direct users to install the updates iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, and visionOS 2.4.1, which are available through the standard software update mechanisms on each platform. The corresponding support documents are published at the listed Apple URLs.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-11381
Vulnerability Data
This issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. 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. An attacker with arbitrary read and write capability may be able to bypass Pointer…
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Authentication. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on iOS.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 17 April 2025
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 4 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
V16.4.2V8.4.2V11.7.1V13.2.4
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege explicitly demands that only the minimum necessary accesses are granted, eliminating the broad permissions that define this weakness.
AC-24 requires access decisions to be applied precisely and unambiguously to every request, structurally blocking insufficiently granular policies.
AC-3 requires enforcement of authorizations according to policy, directly compelling sufficiently granular rules so broad allowances cannot be introduced.
AC-4 enforces approved information flows with explicit source/destination rules, preventing overly coarse access policies from being deployed.
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.IR-01's segmentation + zero-trust rules directly enforce minimum-necessary access at network boundaries, removing most instances of overly broad policy; CWE-1220 can still exist in application-layer or intra-segment controls that this single outcome does not address.
PR.PS-06's general SDLC practices can surface granularity issues during design/review (partial prevention) but do not specifically target access-control policy breadth, so they remove only part of CWE-1220's risk.
CWE-1220 permits unauthorized access to sensitive assets but neither prevents nor impairs the delivery of adverse-event information to authorized recipients.
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.
Directly requires information-access restriction at the level of individual assets and operations, addressing the granularity gap.
Establishes the overarching access-control policy whose granularity directly determines whether the weakness exists.
Defines the assignment and review of access rights; insufficient granularity in those rights is the root of CWE-1220.
Specifies management of privileged access rights, where overly broad privileges are a common manifestation of the weakness.
Limits use of privileged utilities; overly coarse access rules can still allow unauthorized utility access.
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).
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
- V-225025 Local accounts with blank passwords must be restricted to prevent access from the network. prevents CWE-1220
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
- V-254446 Windows Server 2022 must prevent local accounts with blank passwords from being used from the network. prevents CWE-1220