Actively exploited vulnerability

Meta Platforms WhatsApp: improper access control flaw under attack

CVE-2025-55177 · Meta Platforms WhatsApp Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability

Concerns everyone who uses it5.4 medium

What is affected

Meta Platforms WhatsApp is found on ordinary personal computers and phones, so this is not only a problem for companies. If you use it and have not updated since the fix was released, you are exposed.

Meta Platforms WhatsApp contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability due to an incomplete authorization of linked device synchronization messages. This vulnerability could allow an unrelated user to trigger processing of content from an arbitrary URL on a target’s device.

CISA's description

What an attacker can do

This is a improper access control flaw. It lets an attacker perform actions or reach data that should be restricted to authorised users.

How it is reached
Over the internet or network
Access the attacker needs
A basic user account
Does the victim have to do something?
No, works without the victim doing anything

What to do

  1. Update Meta Platforms WhatsApp now. Open the update or "About" screen, install whatever is offered and restart the app or device, because the fix is not active until you do.
  2. Turn on automatic updates so the next fix arrives without you having to look for it.
  3. If your device is too old to receive this update, stop using the affected app for anything sensitive and plan a replacement.

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Action required by CISA for US federal agencies

Vendor advisories and fixes

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on September 2, 2025, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by September 23, 2025, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 4.7% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 92% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 5.4 out of 10 (medium), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

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.

NIST National Vulnerability Database
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