In iOS & iPadOS 18.4.1, Apple patched CVE-2025-31200, which is a CoreAudio security vulnerability patch that could have enabled arbitrary code execution in the kernel memory by way of memory corruption. Apple was made aware of instances in which this vulnerability may have been used against specifically targeted individuals and consequently patched it with improved bounds checking.
But interestingly enough, a group of security researchers including Noahhw46, zhuowei, and defiling9046 have shared a proof-of-concept for CVE-2025-31200 on GitHub, noting that they’ve managed to push it to a “controlled, if not arbitrary write” for affected devices’ kernel memory. A full write-up is said to be coming soon, but there’s no ETA on that yet.
Arbitrary kernel memory write vulnerabilities are often harnessed by exploits to enable on-device hacks, such as what we’ve witnessed in recent memory with utilities like Misaka and PureKFD, among others. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if any further development of this proof-of-concept may make such tools possible on even newer versions of iOS & iPadOS.
The burning question that we know a lot of you have is whether it will be useful in developing a jailbreak, and at least in the opinion of Dopamine jailbreak lead developer Lars Fröder (@opa334dev), it will not be. Not all vulnerabilities go on to be usable exploits for jailbreaks, and even more importantly, we don’t even have the necessary bypasses for the security mechanisms on Apple’s latest devices to pair with one even if it did exist.
While some of these bugs are often used in spyware operations by bad actors (and even some governments), Fröder explains that spyware doesn’t always need to bypass as many security mechanisms as jailbreaks do, which means that it’s literally easier to spy on someone than it is to install jailbreak tweaks for your own amusement. This is laughably unfortunate.
It will be interesting to see whether CVE-2025-31200 goes on to make anything special possible, but more importantly, if any jailbreak-worthy exploits will be dropping along with the necessary bypasses anytime soon. The iDB team will continue to monitor today’s iPhone hacking climate for changes and let our readers know about anything interesting as soon as it comes about.
