CVE-2025-46316: Apple Pages Information Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-46316 Overview

CVE-2025-46316 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability affecting Apple Pages and related Apple operating systems. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient input validation when processing Pages documents. An attacker can exploit this flaw by crafting a malicious Pages document that, when processed, causes unexpected application termination or potentially discloses sensitive process memory contents.

Critical Impact

Processing a maliciously crafted Pages document may result in unexpected termination or disclosure of process memory, potentially exposing sensitive information.

Affected Products

• iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1 (prior versions vulnerable)
• Pages 15.1 (prior versions vulnerable)
• macOS Tahoe 26.1 (prior versions vulnerable)

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-01-28 - CVE CVE-2025-46316 published to NVD
• 2026-01-29 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46316

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-125 (Out-of-Bounds Read), a memory corruption flaw that occurs when software reads data past the end or before the beginning of an intended buffer. In the context of Apple Pages document processing, the vulnerability allows attackers to craft specially formatted documents that trigger improper memory access operations.

When a user opens a malicious Pages document, the parsing routine fails to properly validate input boundaries, causing the application to read memory outside the allocated buffer. This can lead to two primary outcomes: application crashes due to accessing invalid memory regions, or information disclosure where sensitive data from process memory is exposed to the attacker.

The network attack vector indicates that malicious documents could be delivered via email attachments, file sharing services, or other network-based delivery mechanisms, requiring user interaction to open the document.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-46316 lies in improper input validation within the Pages document parsing routines. When processing certain document elements, the application fails to verify that read operations remain within the bounds of allocated memory buffers. This oversight allows specially crafted document structures to trigger reads beyond buffer boundaries, resulting in memory disclosure or application instability.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability requires user interaction through the processing of a maliciously crafted Pages document. An attacker would need to:

1. Create a specially crafted Pages document containing malicious data structures designed to trigger the out-of-bounds read condition
2. Deliver the malicious document to the target via email, file sharing, or other network-based methods
3. Convince the victim to open the document with Pages or a vulnerable Apple operating system

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network but requires the victim to actively open the malicious document. The attack does not require authentication or special privileges beyond standard user access.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46316

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected Pages application crashes or terminations when opening documents from untrusted sources
• Pages documents with unusual file sizes or malformed internal structures
• Memory access violation errors in system logs related to Pages document processing
• Suspicious Pages documents received via email or downloaded from unknown sources

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for abnormal Pages application behavior including unexpected crashes or high memory consumption when processing documents
• Implement file integrity monitoring for Pages documents, particularly those received from external sources
• Enable crash reporting and analyze crash dumps for out-of-bounds memory access patterns
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions capable of identifying malformed document structures

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable Apple's built-in crash reporter to capture and analyze application crashes
• Monitor system logs for memory access violations related to Pages and document processing services
• Implement network traffic analysis to identify suspicious Pages documents being transferred
• Review user reports of unexpected application terminations when working with external documents

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46316

Immediate Actions Required

• Update iOS and iPadOS devices to version 26.1 or later immediately
• Update macOS Tahoe to version 26.1 or later on all affected systems
• Update Pages application to version 15.1 or later
• Exercise caution when opening Pages documents from untrusted or unknown sources
• Consider temporarily blocking Pages document attachments at email gateways until patches are applied

Patch Information

Apple has addressed this vulnerability with improved input validation in the following releases:

• iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1 - Apple Security Advisory #125632
• macOS Tahoe 26.1 - Apple Security Advisory #125634
• Pages 15.1 - Apple Security Advisory #126255

Organizations should prioritize deployment of these security updates across all affected Apple devices and systems.

Workarounds

• Avoid opening Pages documents from untrusted or unknown sources until patches are applied
• Use alternative document formats (PDF, Word) when receiving documents from external parties
• Implement email filtering to quarantine Pages documents pending security review
• Consider disabling automatic document preview features in email clients

# Verify installed Pages version on macOS
/usr/bin/mdls -name kMDItemVersion /Applications/Pages.app

# Check macOS version
sw_vers -productVersion

# Verify iOS/iPadOS version via command line (if applicable)
# Settings > General > About > Software Version