CVE-2025-30428VulnerabilityPublished 31 Mar 2025Updated 2 Apr 2026

CVE-2025-30428: Apple iOS and iPadOS · Photos in the Hidden Photos Album may be viewed without authentication

Affects Apple iOS and iPadOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.4 Medium · fixed in 18.4 : update Apple iOS and iPadOS when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.4Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 18.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L

Attack Vector: Physical
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Physical: The attack requires the attacker to physically touch or manipulate the vulnerable component. Physical interaction may be brief or persistent.
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 31 Mar 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apple iOS and iPadOS	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-30428, organizations and users should promptly update affected devices to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, or iPadOS 17.7.6 or later versions where the vulnerability is fixed. Beyond patching, users should enable strong device-level security controls such as biometric authentication (Face ID or Touch ID) and strong passcodes to reduce the risk of unauthorized physical access. Organizations should enforce mobile device management (MDM) policies that mandate timely OS updates and restrict physical device access. Additionally, users should avoid storing highly sensitive images in the Hidden Photos Album if possible, or use third-party encrypted storage solutions with stronger access controls. Educating users about the risks of device loss or theft and the importance of locking devices can further reduce exposure. Monitoring for unusual access patterns or attempts to bypass authentication on devices can also help detect exploitation attempts. Finally, disabling features like USB accessories when the device is locked can limit attack vectors that require physical access.

Description

This issue was addressed through improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, iPadOS 17.7.6. Photos in the Hidden Photos Album may be viewed without authentication.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-30428 is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive images stored in the Hidden Photos Album on affected Apple devices. This breach of confidentiality can lead to privacy violations for individuals and potential exposure of sensitive corporate or personal data. While the integrity and availability of the device or data are minimally affected, the confidentiality breach can have significant reputational and personal consequences. For organizations, especially those in sectors like healthcare, finance, or legal services where sensitive images may be stored, this vulnerability could lead to data leakage and compliance issues. The requirement for user interaction and physical or close access limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in scenarios involving lost or stolen devices or social engineering attacks. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not preclude future exploitation attempts. Overall, the vulnerability poses a moderate risk that necessitates timely patching to prevent unauthorized access to private images.

CWE-305Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The authentication algorithm is sound, but the implemented mechanism can be bypassed as the result of a separate weakness that is primary to the authentication error.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Apr 2026, 01:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-305

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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