Apple Patches 2025’s First Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited in iPhone Attacks

Apple has released urgent security updates to address the first zero-day vulnerability of 2025, which has been actively exploited in attacks targeting iPhone users.

Details of the Exploit

The zero-day vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-24085, is a privilege escalation flaw in Apple’s Core Media framework. According to Apple, “a malicious application may be able to elevate privileges,” with reports indicating active exploitation in attacks on iOS versions before 17.2.

Core Media is a fundamental framework that powers the media pipeline in AVFoundation and other media-related systems across Apple devices.

Affected Devices and Updates

Apple has issued patches for a wide range of devices, including both older and newer models. The security updates are available in the following operating systems:

• iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3
• macOS Sequoia 15.3
• watchOS 11.3
• visionOS 2.3
• tvOS 18.3

Impacted devices include:

• iPhone XS and later
• iPad Pro (13-inch, 12.9-inch 3rd gen and later, 11-inch 1st gen and later)
• iPad Air (3rd gen and later), iPad (7th gen and later), and iPad mini (5th gen and later)
• macOS Sequoia devices
• Apple Watch Series 6 and later
• Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K