CVE-2025-31229
Published: 30 July 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-31229 is a critical-severity Weak Encoding for Password (CWE-261) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked at the 30.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 IA-6 (Authentication Feedback) and SI-15 (Information Output Filtering).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
IA-6 requires obscuring feedback of authentication information like passcodes to prevent exploitation, directly mitigating the VoiceOver disclosure of the passcode.
SI-2 mandates timely identification and remediation of system flaws, addressing the logic issue in VoiceOver fixed by Apple's improved checks in iOS/iPadOS 18.6.
SI-15 filters sensitive information prior to output, preventing passcode disclosure through audio mechanisms like VoiceOver.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Insufficient information to map techniques.NVD Description
A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6. Passcode may be read aloud by VoiceOver.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-31229 is a logic issue addressed with improved checks in the VoiceOver accessibility feature on iOS and iPadOS prior to version 18.6. The vulnerability enables the passcode to be read aloud by VoiceOver. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H) and is associated with CWE-261 (Weak Encoding for Password).
Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low attack complexity, requiring no privileges, authentication, or user interaction. Exploitation results in high confidentiality and availability impacts, allowing the attacker to cause the device to audibly disclose the passcode via VoiceOver.
Apple's advisory confirms the issue is fixed in iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 through improved checks. Additional details are provided in the support article at https://support.apple.com/en-us/124147 and the Full Disclosure mailing list posting at http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jul/30.
Details
- CWE(s)