Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-43338

XSS in Apple Ipados ≤ 26.0

Published
04 November 2025
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-43338 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 15th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An out-of-bounds access issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, macOS Sonoma 14.8.2, macOS Sonoma 14.8.4, macOS Tahoe 26. Processing a maliciously crafted media file may lead to unexpected app…

more

termination or corrupt process memory.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-32445Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2021-1879Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-4136Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-2318Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2012-0767Same vendor: Apple
CVE-2023-22972Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-4482Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-48472Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-4175Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-50833Shared CWE-79

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 26.0
apple
iphone os
≤ 26.0
apple
macos
≤ 14.8.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • SC-39 Process Isolation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires input validation (bounds checking) on untrusted media files to block the out-of-bounds access that triggers the CVE.

prevent

Enforces memory protection mechanisms that prevent or contain the process memory corruption described in the CVE.

prevent

Requires process isolation so that memory corruption from a malicious media file cannot affect other processes or the kernel.

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 directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

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.

detects

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

none

Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.

References