CVE-2025-43529
Published: 17 December 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-43529 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 6.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
A use-after-free vulnerability addressed through improved memory management affects the web content processing components in Safari and multiple Apple operating systems. Impacted versions include those prior to Safari 26.2, iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3, iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2, macOS Tahoe 26.2, tvOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, and watchOS 26.2. The flaw carries a CVSS score of 8.8 and is tracked under CWE-416.
An attacker can exploit the issue by serving maliciously crafted web content to a target, potentially achieving arbitrary code execution on the device. Exploitation requires the victim to process the content, such as through a web browser, and the attack can be launched over the network without authentication.
Apple security advisories at support.apple.com detail the fixes in the listed product updates and note that the vulnerability may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack targeting specific individuals on older iOS versions before iOS 26, with a related CVE-2025-14174 also issued in response. The current EPSS score stands at 0.0017.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-203963
Vulnerability details
A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.2, iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3, iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2, macOS Tahoe 26.2, tvOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, watchOS 26.2. Processing maliciously crafted web content…
more
may lead to arbitrary 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 before iOS 26. CVE-2025-14174 was also issued in response to this report.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 15 December 2025
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The use-after-free vulnerability in WebKit enables arbitrary code execution via exploitation of client-side software (browser/engine) with malicious web content, directly mapping to Exploitation for Client Execution.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mandates timely patching and updating of software flaws like this use-after-free vulnerability fixed in Safari 26.2 and related OS versions.
Implements memory protections such as address space layout randomization and data execution prevention to mitigate exploitation of use-after-free errors in web content processing.
Enables vulnerability scanning to identify systems affected by CVE-2025-43529 that remain unpatched prior to exploitation.