# CVE-2025-43459: Auth bypass in watchOS

> An attacker with physical access to a locked Apple Watch can bypass authentication to view Live Voicemail content.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Nov 2025
- **Updated:** 2 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cvjw-3jg5-rvcq

## What is CVE-2025-43459?

CVE-2025-43459 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Apple Watchos, published on 4 Nov 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An authentication issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in watchOS 26.1. An attacker with physical access to a locked Apple Watch may be able to view Live Voicemail.

Weakness: CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-43459?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Apple Watchos.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-43459?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-43459 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-43459 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-43459 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apple Watchos

- [CVE-2019-8743](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-8743/): Memory corruption in watchOS (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-8765](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-8765/): Memory corruption in watchOS (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-3834](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3834/): Memory corruption in watchOS (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-8747](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-8747/): Memory corruption in watchOS (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-8624](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-8624/): Information disclosure in watchOS (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-43459 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-43459 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Apple Watchos, published on 4 Nov 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-43459 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apple Watchos. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43459/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43459/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-43459
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-43459
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-43459

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43459/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.