Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-31271

Auth Bypass in Apple Macos ≤ 26.0

Published
15 September 2025
Modified
03 November 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0038 30th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-31271 is a high-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 30th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-11 (Device Lock) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

This issue was addressed through improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Tahoe 26. Incoming FaceTime calls can appear or be accepted on a locked macOS device, even with notifications disabled on the lock screen.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-43281Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42935Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-31264Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-23493Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-54515Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-27809Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-23230Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-44287Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-23516Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-31224Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
macos
≤ 26.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.4
  • V6.5.4
  • V6.5.5
  • V6.5.7

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces access control policy so that FaceTime call UI and acceptance remain blocked while the device lock state is active.

prevent

Requires the system to keep the device locked and suppress all interaction surfaces (including incoming-call presentation) until the user explicitly unlocks.

prevent

Mandates proper session/state termination or isolation when the device transitions to locked, preventing stale FaceTime call state from remaining actionable.

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-03 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-03 directly enforces authentication mechanisms that eliminate most improper-authentication defects, yet CWE-287 spans additional vectors (missing checks, flawed protocols, session handling) that one control does not fully close.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-04 directly enables verification of identity assertions (mostly preventing CWE-287 in that scope) yet leaves many other authentication failure modes unaddressed (only partial prevention overall).

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies and governs credentials/tokens that authentication relies on, removing some weak-credential cases, yet leaves verification logic, missing checks, and protocol flaws untouched.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-02 ensures valid enrollment and unique credential binding, which reduces some improper-auth risks at issuance time but leaves runtime claim verification untouched, so each direction only partially addresses the other.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-01 can enforce auth-related settings via hardened baselines and default reviews, blocking some config-based instances of CWE-287, yet leaves code-level auth flaws untouched so neither direction reaches mostly.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate some known auth vulnerabilities after deployment (partial forward) but does not address the design or implementation of authentication logic itself (none reverse).

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.

prevents

Requiring authentication methods whose strength matches the sensitivity of the data and mandating multi-factor authentication directly blocks attempts to access resources without proving identity.

prevents

Verifying user identity before issuing replacement credentials and forcing changes after compromise reduces the likelihood that authentication bypass can be achieved through stolen or weak credentials.

prevents

Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.

mitigates

Requiring authentication mechanisms and technical parameters for secure connections ensures that network services verify user identity before granting access, preventing exploitation of missing or weak authentication.

prevents

Security requirements specified early and verified through testing drive the consistent implementation of authentication mechanisms, decreasing the likelihood that authentication steps are omitted or incorrectly applied.

prevents

Defining the required level of trust in entity identity and the authentication mechanisms to achieve it ensures that authentication is explicitly addressed rather than omitted.

References