CVE-2025-24283: Apple iPadOS Information Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-24283 Overview

CVE-2025-24283 is an information disclosure vulnerability affecting multiple Apple operating systems. The flaw stems from insufficient data redaction in log output. An application on the device may read sensitive user data written to logs by the operating system. Apple addressed the issue with improved data redaction in iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, visionOS 2.4, and watchOS 11.4. The weakness is categorized under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor. Exploitation requires local access and user interaction, limiting scale but not the potential impact on user privacy.

Critical Impact
A local app can access sensitive user data exposed through insufficiently redacted system logs on affected Apple platforms.

Affected Products

Apple iOS and iPadOS prior to 18.4
Apple macOS Sequoia prior to 15.4
Apple visionOS prior to 2.4 and watchOS prior to 11.4

Discovery Timeline

2025-03-31 - CVE-2025-24283 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2025-03-31 - Apple releases security advisories 122371, 122373, 122376, and 122378
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24283

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is an information exposure issue in Apple's logging subsystem. System components wrote sensitive user data into log entries without adequate redaction. Any local application with permission to read these logs could observe values that should have been masked. Apple's advisories describe the fix as "improved data redaction," indicating the original privacy filters were incomplete for certain fields.

Because the impacted surface is logging, exploitation does not require memory corruption or elevated privileges. The attack succeeds when an installed app queries or ingests log streams during normal operation. The impact is confined to confidentiality; integrity and availability of the system remain intact.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient sanitization of privacy-sensitive fields before they reach persistent or queryable log stores. Apple's unified logging typically marks such fields as private, which redacts them from consumer-visible output. In this case, one or more code paths emitted these values in cleartext, leaving them recoverable by third-party apps.

Attack Vector

An attacker distributes a malicious or overly curious application through side-loading, enterprise provisioning, or the App Store. Once installed and launched by the user, the app reads system log data available to its sandbox and extracts unredacted sensitive values. No network access, no privilege escalation, and no kernel interaction is required.

No public code examples are available for this issue. See Apple's advisories 122371, 122373, and 122378 for vendor-provided technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24283

Indicators of Compromise

Installed applications that request or subscribe to system log streams outside their functional need.
Unexpected calls to OSLog, os_log_create, or log-export APIs from third-party binaries.
Endpoint telemetry showing local processes reading /private/var/db/diagnostics on macOS.

Detection Strategies

Inventory endpoints and correlate installed OS build numbers against fixed versions (iOS/iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, visionOS 2.4, watchOS 11.4).
Baseline which applications legitimately consume log data and alert on new consumers.
Review mobile device management (MDM) posture reports for devices running vulnerable Apple OS builds.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable MDM compliance policies that flag devices running out-of-date Apple OS versions.
Monitor macOS endpoints for processes invoking log show, log stream, or sysdiagnose from non-administrative contexts.
Track app installations from non-vetted sources on managed mobile devices.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24283

Immediate Actions Required

Update all Apple devices to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, visionOS 2.4, or watchOS 11.4 or later.
Enforce minimum OS version compliance through MDM policies for corporate-managed devices.
Audit installed third-party applications on managed endpoints and remove untrusted apps.

Patch Information

Apple published fixed builds in the security notes referenced by advisories 122371, 122373, 122376, and 122378. The fix is delivered exclusively through Apple's operating system updates; no standalone patch exists.

Workarounds

Restrict installation of unvetted applications through MDM app allow-listing.
Disable enterprise side-loading channels until affected devices are patched.
Educate users to decline app installation prompts from untrusted sources.

bash

# Verify current macOS version and check for updates
sw_vers -productVersion
softwareupdate --list
sudo softwareupdate --install --all --restart