CVE-2025-55177
Incomplete authorization of linked device synchronization messages in WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.25.21.73, WhatsApp Business for iOS v2.25.21.78, and WhatsApp for Mac v2.25.21.78 could have allowed an unrelated user to trigger processing of content from an arbitrary URL on a target’s device. We assess that this vulnerability, in combination with an OS-level vulnerability on Apple platforms (CVE-2025-43300), may have been exploited in a sophisticated attack against specific targeted users.
do firstApply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Can a WAF block it? No. The vulnerability involves incomplete authorization of linked device synchronization messages, which are not described as HTTP requests. The attack requires some level of privilege and is related to device synchronization protocols rather than typical web traffic, so a web application firewall cannot reliably detect or block it.
Also consider: patch · per-resource ACL
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Is CVE-2025-55177 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2025-55177 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2025-55177?
CVE-2025-55177 is rated Medium with a CVSS score of 5.4. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2025-55177?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2025-55177. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2025-55177 affect?
CVE-2025-55177 affects whatsapp:whatsapp, whatsapp:whatsapp_business. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
- affected>= 2.22.25.2 and < 2.25.21.78
- affected>= 2.22.25.2 and < 2.25.21.78
- affected>= 2.22.25.2 and < 2.25.21.73
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
public exploits
Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 1 GitHub proof of concept
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
cisa ssvc
- exploitation
- active
- automatable
- no
- technical impact
- total
Assessed by CISA 30 Aug 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3).
timeline
- 29 Aug 2025Published
- 30 Aug 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active · same day later
- 2 Sept 2025Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild) · 3 days later
- 23 Sept 2025CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies) · 21 days later
- 24 Apr 2026First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted) · 213 days (about 7 months) later
- 7 Oct 2026CVE record last updated · 167 days (about 6 months) later
- 2 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com · 26 days later
- Linkfacebook.com /security/advisories/cve-2025-55177
- Linkwhatsapp.com /security/advisories/2025/
- Linkcisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-55177
sources
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
- Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.