Apple Patches Multiple Critical Vulnerabilities In Ios 26.1 And...

The update targets devices starting from the iPhone 11 series and various iPad models, including the iPad Pro (3rd generation 12.9-inch and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (8th generation and later), and iPad mini (5th generation and later).

This release underscores Apple’s ongoing commitment to rapid response against evolving threats, especially as cyber risks intensify in an era of advanced malware and targeted attacks.

Security researchers from ByteDance, Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative, Google, and independent experts discovered most flaws, highlighting the collaborative nature of vulnerability hunting in the iOS ecosystem.

Several fixes focus on preventing apps from overstepping boundaries, a common vector for data theft. For instance, in Accessibility (CVE-2025-43442), a permissions flaw let apps detect other installed applications, potentially enabling fingerprinting.

In the Kernel and Apple Neural Engine, memory handling improvements (CVE-2025-43398, CVE-2025-43447, CVE-2025-43462) prevent unexpected crashes or kernel corruption, which could lead to denial-of-service attacks.

Assets and CloudKit updates (CVE-2025-43407, CVE-2025-43448) reinforce sandbox integrity by validating symlinks more rigorously and preventing apps from escaping their confines to access protected files.

Contacts and Photos also received logging and temporary file tweaks (CVE-2025-43426, CVE-2025-43391) to redact sensitive data and curb unauthorized access. A notable fix in Stolen Device Protection (CVE-2025-43422) adds logic to prevent physical attackers from disabling the feature, vital for protecting lost or stolen devices.

WebKit, powering Safari and web views, dominates the update with fixes for crashes, memory corruption, and cross-origin data exfiltration.

A use-after-free vulnerability (CVE-2025-43438) could crash Safari via malicious content, while buffer overflows (CVE-2025-43429) risked arbitrary code execution.

Apple addressed these through better memory management, bounds checking, and disabling risky optimizations like array allocation sinking (CVE-2025-43421).