Locked-device information exposure via Recovery authentication bypass
Published May 29, 2025 · Updated Apr 2, 2026
Authentication bypass in macOS Recovery before 13.7.5, 14.7.5, or 15.4 allows physically proximate attackers to view sensitive user information. The Recovery component mishandles authentication state, but Apple has not disclosed the affected state transition or validation failure. Exploitation requires physical access to a locked Mac and exposes information visible through Recovery without reported data modification or service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Authentication bypass in macOS Recovery before 13.7.5, 14.7.5, or 15.4 allows physically proximate attackers to view sensitive user information. The Recovery component mishandles authentication state, but Apple has not disclosed the affected state transition or validation failure. Exploitation requires physical access to a locked Mac and exposes information visible through Recovery without reported data modification or service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-31264
- Published
- May 29, 2025
- Updated
- Apr 2, 2026
- Vendor
- Apple
- Product
- macOS
- Classifications
- CWE-287, T1005
- Attack vector
- physical
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 29, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 2, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <13.7.5
- Affected versionversion=0 <14.7.5
- Affected versionversion=0 <15.4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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