Apple users in India have been urged to update their devices immediately following a high-severity security alert issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) on April 4, 2025. The vulnerability affects a wide range of Apple products, including the latest iPhone 16 series and older models, raising concerns about potential hacking threats and data breaches. The tech giant has already released critical software patches, and users are advised to install them without delay to avoid falling victim to security flaws.
Multiple vulnerabilities exposed across Apple ecosystem
According to the CERT-In advisory, several serious vulnerabilities have been discovered in Apple’s software systems, primarily caused by coding errors such as type confusion, use-after-free, out-of-bounds read and write issues, improper file parsing, and buffer overflow. These flaws are significant because they could allow malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to users’ devices, bypassing standard security protections. Once compromised, attackers could potentially steal sensitive data, disrupt device functionality, or deploy malicious software.
These vulnerabilities impact not just iPhones but also iPads, Macs, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and even devices running visionOS. CERT-In’s classification of the threat as “high severity” underlines the seriousness of the issue and highlights the urgent need for user action.
Devices and software versions at risk
The affected software versions include Apple Safari versions before 18.4, Xcode versions before 16.3, and iOS and iPadOS versions earlier than 18.4, 17.7.6, 16.7.11, and 15.8.4 respectively. macOS users running Sequoia versions before 15.4, Sonoma versions before 14.7.5, or Ventura versions before 13.7.5 are also vulnerable. Additionally, tvOS versions prior to 18.4 and visionOS before 2.4 are included in the risk list.
To protect against these security flaws, Apple has already rolled out updates that address each of the identified issues. Users are strongly recommended to go to Settings > General > Software Update on their Apple devices and install the latest version of the software as soon as possible.
