Apple has rolled out emergency updates to patch two critical safety flaws that had been actively being exploited in extremely focused assaults on iPhones and different Apple units. The fixes, launched on April 16 as a part of iOS 18.4.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, deal with zero-day vulnerabilities.
Apple mentioned these bugs had been utilized in an “extraordinarily refined assault in opposition to particular focused people on iOS.”
Contained in the iOS and macOS vulnerabilities
The two bugs, tracked as CVE-2025-31200 and CVE-2025-31201, have an effect on Apple’s software program’s CoreAudio and RPAC elements.
- CVE-2025-31200 (CoreAudio): This bug permits hackers to take management of a tool just by tricking it into processing a malicious media file. Apple credited the invention to its inner group and researchers from Google’s Risk Evaluation Group — a unit recognized for monitoring superior cyberattacks, typically linked to authorities actors.
- CVE-2025-31201 (RPAC): This flaw impacts a safety mechanism known as Pointer Authentication, designed to forestall reminiscence assaults. Hackers who’ve learn and write entry to a tool might bypass this safety and hijack the system. Apple discovered and glued this bug internally by eradicating the weak code.
Which Apple units had been affected?
Whereas Apple didn’t say who was behind the assaults or how many individuals had been affected, the language the corporate used — “particular focused people” — strongly means that these weren’t random hacks, however deliberate and exact operations. That, mixed with Google’s involvement, has raised hypothesis about doable ties to government-backed surveillance campaigns.
Units affected embody:
- iPhones from iPhone XS and newer.
- iPads from seventh era and newer.
- Macs operating macOS Sequoia.
- All fashions of Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K.
- Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional headset.
A rising record of zero-days
These newest fixes deliver the variety of zero-days patched by Apple this yr to 5. Earlier vulnerabilities had been addressed in January, February, and March. Apple usually retains particulars about ongoing exploits beneath wraps, and this case is not any completely different. The corporate hasn’t shared precisely how the bugs had been used.
