CVE-2025-43480
8.1Apple · Safari, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS
A cross-origin data exfiltration vulnerability exists in multiple Apple products due to insufficient security checks, allowing a malicious website to access sensitive cross-origin information.
Executive summary
A critical cross-origin data exfiltration vulnerability in Apple software allows malicious websites to steal user information, necessitating immediate updates across the ecosystem.
Vulnerability
This vulnerability involves a failure in cross-origin data protection mechanisms, which allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exfiltrate sensitive data from a user session. The flaw is triggered when a user visits a malicious website, as indicated by the user interaction requirement in the CVSS vector.
Business impact
Successful exploitation poses a significant risk to data confidentiality, as attackers can bypass browser security policies to access private information across different origins. Given the CVSS score of 8.1, this high-severity flaw could lead to unauthorized access to user accounts, session tokens, or sensitive personal data, potentially resulting in severe reputational damage and regulatory non-compliance.
Remediation
Immediate Action: Update all affected Apple devices and the Safari browser to version 26.1 or later immediately to apply the necessary security checks.
Proactive Monitoring: Review web traffic logs for unusual cross-origin requests and monitor endpoint security alerts for potential unauthorized data access patterns originating from browser activity.
Compensating Controls: While browser-level patches are the primary defense, deploying robust content security policies (CSP) can help restrict the sources from which scripts can be loaded, potentially reducing the window of opportunity for malicious scripts.
Exploitation status
Public Exploit Available: Unknown
Analyst recommendation
The severity of this vulnerability, combined with the broad reach of the affected Apple ecosystem, requires prompt attention. IT administrators should prioritize the deployment of the 26.1 update across all managed Apple devices to ensure that cross-origin security boundaries are properly enforced and user data remains protected from unauthorized exfiltration.