CVE-2025-43221

Vulnerability

Details

CVE-2025-43221 is an out-of-bounds access vulnerability in Apple's media file parsing logic. The root cause is insufficient bounds checking when handling specially crafted media files, leading to reads or writes beyond the allocated memory buffer [1]. Apple addressed the issue with improved bounds checking in the affected components.

Exploitation

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by enticing a user to process a maliciously crafted media file (e.g., an image, video, or audio file) on an affected Apple device. No additional authentication or network privileges are required beyond normal user interaction – simply opening the file in an application that uses the vulnerable parser can trigger the out-of-bounds access [2][3][4]. The attack surface includes all platforms sharing the vulnerable core media framework.

Impact

Successful exploitation can lead to unexpected application termination (denial of service) or corruption of process memory [1]. Memory corruption may potentially be leveraged for further attacks, such as code execution, though the official description does not confirm that outcome. The vulnerability is rated High with a CVSS v3 score of 7.1.

Mitigation

Apple released patches on July 29, 2025, in iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, macOS Sequoia 15.6, tvOS 18.6, and visionOS 2.6 [1][2][3][4]. Users should update their devices to the latest OS versions. No workarounds are available, and the CVE is not listed on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog at the time of publication.