CVE-2025-43227: Apple Safari Information Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-43227 Overview

CVE-2025-43227 is an information disclosure vulnerability affecting Apple Safari and multiple Apple operating systems including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS. The vulnerability stems from improper state management in the browser's web content processing engine, which can be exploited through maliciously crafted web content to disclose sensitive user information.

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to potentially access confidential data by serving specially crafted web pages to affected browsers. The attack requires no user authentication or interaction beyond visiting a malicious webpage, making it a significant privacy concern for users across Apple's ecosystem.

Critical Impact

Processing maliciously crafted web content may disclose sensitive user information across multiple Apple platforms including Safari, iOS, macOS, and other Apple operating systems.

Affected Products

• Apple Safari versions prior to 18.6
• Apple iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 18.6
• Apple macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15.6
• Apple tvOS versions prior to 18.6
• Apple watchOS versions prior to 11.6
• Apple visionOS versions prior to 2.6

Discovery Timeline

• July 30, 2025 - CVE-2025-43227 published to NVD
• November 4, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-43227

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-359 (Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor), indicating that the flaw allows unauthorized access to sensitive user data. The issue resides in the state management mechanisms within Apple's WebKit-based browser engine, which powers Safari and embedded web views across all Apple platforms.

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring any privileges or user interaction. When a user visits a malicious webpage, the crafted web content can exploit the improper state management to access information that should be protected by browser security boundaries.

The impact is primarily focused on confidentiality, with the potential for complete disclosure of sensitive information accessible to the browser context. This could include browsing data, form inputs, cached credentials, or other user-specific information depending on the implementation details of the flaw.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-43227 lies in improper state management within the web content processing pipeline. State management vulnerabilities occur when an application fails to properly track, validate, or isolate the state of different operations or contexts. In browser engines, this can lead to scenarios where data from one security context becomes accessible to another, bypassing same-origin policies or other security boundaries.

Apple addressed this issue through improved state management, indicating that the fix involves better isolation and tracking of state across different web content processing operations.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for CVE-2025-43227 is network-based, requiring an attacker to serve maliciously crafted web content to a victim's browser. Attack scenarios include:

1. Malicious Website - An attacker hosts a webpage containing the exploit code and lures victims to visit it through phishing or other social engineering techniques
2. Compromised Advertisement - Malicious code injected into ad networks could serve the exploit to users on legitimate websites
3. Man-in-the-Middle - An attacker with network position could inject malicious content into unencrypted web traffic

The exploitation mechanism involves crafting specific web content that triggers the improper state management condition. When processed by the vulnerable WebKit engine, this content can cause the browser to inadvertently expose sensitive user information that would normally be protected.

For detailed technical information about the vulnerability mechanism, refer to the Apple Security Advisory and the Full Disclosure mailing list posts.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-43227

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual network requests originating from browser processes to unknown external endpoints
• Anomalous web content downloads or JavaScript execution patterns in browser logs
• Unexpected data exfiltration attempts from browser-accessible storage areas
• Browser crash reports or stability issues potentially indicative of exploitation attempts

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for suspicious web traffic patterns targeting Apple device browsers
• Implement network-based detection for known malicious payloads targeting WebKit vulnerabilities
• Deploy endpoint detection to identify unusual browser process behavior or memory access patterns
• Utilize SentinelOne's behavioral AI to detect exploitation attempts based on anomalous browser activity

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed browser security logging on managed Apple devices
• Monitor for connections to newly registered domains or known malicious infrastructure
• Track browser version compliance across the organization to identify unpatched systems
• Implement content security policies to restrict potentially malicious web content sources

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-43227

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Safari to version 18.6 or later immediately
• Update iOS and iPadOS devices to version 18.6 or later
• Update macOS Sequoia to version 15.6 or later
• Update tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS to the latest patched versions (18.6, 11.6, and 2.6 respectively)
• Enable automatic updates on all Apple devices to ensure timely patch deployment

Patch Information

Apple has released security updates addressing CVE-2025-43227 across all affected platforms. The patches implement improved state management to prevent the information disclosure vulnerability. Organizations should prioritize patching based on device exposure to web content.

Official security advisories are available from Apple:

• Safari 18.6 Security Update
• iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 Security Update
• macOS Sequoia 15.6 Security Update
• tvOS 18.6 Security Update
• watchOS 11.6 Security Update
• visionOS 2.6 Security Update

Additional information is available from the Debian LTS Security Announcement for systems using WebKitGTK.

Workarounds

• Implement web content filtering to block access to known malicious sites
• Use network-level controls to restrict access to untrusted web content on critical systems
• Consider disabling JavaScript on high-security systems where web functionality is not essential
• Deploy browser isolation solutions to contain potential exploitation attempts

# macOS software update command
sudo softwareupdate --install --all

# Check current Safari version
/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari --version

# For iOS/iPadOS, navigate to:
# Settings > General > Software Update