Apple macOS Web use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple macOS. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component Web Handler. The manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2025-43216. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Apple macOS (version unknown). This issue affects an unknown function of the component Web Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in watchOS 11.6, iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6, iPadOS 17.7.9, tvOS 18.6, macOS Sequoia 15.6, visionOS 2.6. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to an unexpected Safari crash.

It is possible to read the advisory at support.apple.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-43216 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/26/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 243030 (macOS 15.x < 15.6 Multiple Vulnerabilities (124149)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (243030) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1703). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Fedora Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IGEL OS
• Open Source WebKitGTK

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Apple

Name

• macOS

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

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Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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