What is CVE-2025-55177?

CVE-2025-55177 is Meta Platforms WhatsApp Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Access Control mapped to CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Yes: CISA KEV signal present. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

Is there a public exploit?

3 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with web/proxy/WAF logs, application logs, network IDS/IPS where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2025-55177 using CVSS 5.4, EPSS 4%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

Publicly linked actor or ransomware signals in the supplied enrichment data: [Unnamed group] (), Lurk (), Stealth Falcon (), Pat Bear (), SCATTERED SPIDER (). Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

CISA KEVmediumAccess Controlpublic exploit

CVE-2025-55177

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

Q: Is it in CISA KEV?

Yes. The supplied enrichment data lists CVE-2025-55177 in CISA KEV with required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

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.

Published Aug 29, 2025Updated Jun 17, 2026Sources: NVD, Facebook (CNA), CISA, FIRST EPSS, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Confirmed

CISA KEV, listed Sep 2, 2025

EPSS

ahead of 90% of scored CVEs

Affects

Facebook

3 products listed

CVSS base

5.4

medium · 2 sources

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

Active

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade WhatsApp Desktop for Mac to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

CISA required action

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

Federal deadline Sep 23, 2025 — passed 353 days ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
Facebook	WhatsApp Desktop for Mac	2.22.25.2 to < 2.25.21.78	Vulnerable
Facebook	WhatsApp Business for iOS	2.22.25.2 to < 2.25.21.78	Vulnerable
Facebook	WhatsApp for iOS	2.22.25.2 to < 2.25.21.73	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

None

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

Low

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
5.4	CVSS 3.1	medium	2.8	2.5	Meta (CNA)
5.4	CVSS 3.1	medium	—	—	Facebook (CNA)

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization

Read Application Data
Read Files or Directories
Modify Application Data
Modify Files or Directories

Mitigation: Divide the software into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) [REF-229] to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries. Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization

Inferred from the weakness class — not observed against this CVE.

CAPEC-1 · Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLsCAPEC-122 · Privilege Abuse

CISA KEV details

CISA lists a CVE here once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

CISAThat month →

Listed

Sep 2, 2025

Federal deadline

Sep 23, 2025

passed 353 days ago

Ransomware use

Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a date to argue against.

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

1 of the 1 sampled are weaponized

Exploit entries

Exploit-DB and CTI exploit indexes

Social mentions

Posts naming this CVE. Attention, not evidence of exploitation — it spikes on disclosure and decays whether or not anything is exploited.

35 more posts on this CVEShowing 5 of 40 · Who is discussing this CVE, and how loudlyUnlock free

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable WhatsApp Desktop for Mac, WhatsApp Business for iOS, WhatsApp for iOS.
Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 3 public PoC repositories were reported.

web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPS

Groups associated with this CVE

Groups reported in connection with this vulnerability. A reported association, not a confirmed observation of that group using it — and not scoped to any sector or campaign.

[Unnamed group]LurkStealth FalconPat BearSCATTERED SPIDER

6 more threat groups on this CVEShowing 5 of 11 · Attribution, campaigns and the malware each one runsUnlock free

hashb45817ffb0355badcc89f2d7d48eecf00ebdf2b966ac986514f9d971f6c57d1875
Kaspersky Public Requests · Nov 11, 2025

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 5.4 (AV:N)
Jun 17, 2026 · NVD
Cve is exploited danielw98/zero-click-exploit-analysis
Apr 25, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
2025
Added to CISA KEV catalog
Sep 2, 2025 · CISA
Initial · CVE published
Aug 29, 2025 · NVD

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

20×SVRS was changedFeb 16, 2026 – May 15, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
8×TweetsFeb 16, 2026 – Aug 22, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
1×Github_Repos · Github repository created, danielw98/zero-click-exploit-analysisApr 24, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

4 on the record

www.facebook.com/security/advisories/cve-2025-55177
Vendor Advisory, NIST
www.whatsapp.com/security/advisories/2025/
Vendor Advisory, NIST, GITHUB
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-55177
US Government Resource
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-55177
Vendor Advisory

Coverage

20 stories from the feeds we poll

15 more reports on this CVEShowing 5 of 20 · Vendor research and security press coverageUnlock free

Elsewhere on this site

Facebookevery CVE for this vendor
September 2025what else CISA listed
Access Controlsame class
CWE-863other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

Only the 1 indicator(s) reported for this CVE are available; no packet-level or host-forensic artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2025-55177 is Meta Platforms WhatsApp Incorrect Authorization Vulnerability, a medium vulnerability affecting WhatsApp Desktop for Mac, WhatsApp Business for iOS, WhatsApp for iOS from Facebook. The current evidence lists it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Yes: CISA KEV signal present. Public exploit evidence is: 3 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 5.4 describes technical severity, while EPSS 4% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.