CVE-2025-46279 is a critical information disclosure vulnerability affecting Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS platforms. The root cause is a permissions issue that allows a malicious app to enumerate other installed applications on the device without requiring any privileges or user interaction. This breaks the intended sandboxing and privacy model by exposing the list of installed apps, which can reveal sensitive user behavior, interests, or installed security tools. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor). Apple has mitigated this issue by introducing additional restrictions in iOS 18.7.3, iPadOS 18.7.3, and equivalent versions of other affected operating systems. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 9.8, indicating a critical severity with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While no active exploits have been reported, the vulnerability’s ease of exploitation and broad impact make it a significant risk. The ability to identify installed apps can facilitate targeted phishing, social engineering, or further exploitation by revealing security or enterprise apps present on the device.

The primary impact of CVE-2025-46279 is a severe privacy breach, as attackers can determine which apps a user has installed, potentially exposing sensitive personal or corporate information. This can lead to profiling users, targeted attacks, or bypassing security controls by identifying security or enterprise management apps. The vulnerability also undermines the app sandboxing model, potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks that leverage knowledge of installed software. For organizations, this could mean exposure of internal app usage patterns, increasing risks of espionage or targeted malware campaigns. The critical severity and lack of required privileges mean that any malicious app distributed via the App Store or sideloaded could exploit this flaw, affecting millions of users globally. The broad range of affected Apple platforms increases the scope, impacting mobile, desktop, wearable, and TV devices. Although no known exploits are currently active, the vulnerability’s characteristics suggest a high likelihood of future exploitation if unpatched.

To mitigate CVE-2025-46279, organizations and users should immediately update all affected Apple devices to the patched OS versions: iOS 18.7.3, iPadOS 18.7.3, macOS Tahoe 26.2, tvOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, and watchOS 26.2 or later. Enterprises should enforce mobile device management (MDM) policies that mandate these updates and restrict app installation to trusted sources only. App developers and security teams should monitor app behavior for unauthorized attempts to enumerate installed apps and consider implementing runtime detection of such activities. Users should be cautious about installing apps from untrusted developers or sources outside the official App Store. Additionally, organizations should review app permissions and audit installed apps to minimize exposure. Network-level protections such as app reputation filtering and anomaly detection can help identify malicious apps attempting to exploit this vulnerability. Finally, Apple should continue to enhance app sandboxing and permission models to prevent similar issues in the future.