Apple users face major security threat in India: Here’s how to protect your devices

If you’re using an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or even an Apple Vision Pro, there’s an important warning for you. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), functioning under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has issued a high-severity alert for Apple users in India. This follows the discovery of multiple critical vulnerabilities that could allow cyber attackers to gain unauthorised access to your devices, steal sensitive data, or even take control of your system.

The warning is outlined in vulnerability note CIVN-2025-0071. It details several serious flaws affecting a broad range of Apple products and stresses the need for users to install the latest updates without delay. CERT-In warns that these vulnerabilities could lead to attackers executing arbitrary code, bypassing security protections, gaining elevated privileges, altering or stealing data, and launching spoofing or denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

Who is at risk?

The advisory is aimed at both individual users and organisations that rely on Apple products. Those using outdated versions of iOS, macOS, Safari, or other Apple platforms are particularly exposed. CERT-In strongly recommends updating all devices to their latest versions to avoid risks such as data breaches, device hijacking, or service interruptions.

Affected versions of Apple software include:
Apple Safari versions prior to 18.4
Apple Xcode versions prior to 16.3
Apple iOS versions prior to 18.4 
Apple iPadOS versions prior to 18.4
Apple iPadOS versions prior to 17.7.6
Apple iOS versions prior to 16.7.11 
Apple iPadOS versions prior to 16.7.11
Apple iOS versions prior to 15.8.4 
Apple iPadOS versions prior to 15.8.4
Apple macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15.4
Apple macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.7.5
Apple macOS Ventura versions prior to 13.7.5
Apple tvOS versions prior to 18.4
Apple visionOS versions prior to 2.4

How to safeguard your Apple devices?

To defend against potential attacks, CERT-In urges all Apple users to install the latest security patches released by Apple. These updates are specifically designed to close the loopholes identified in recent reports.

Apple has already released fixes, and detailed instructions are available on the official Apple Security Updates page.

Apple also recommends enabling automatic updates, which will help ensure that your device stays protected against future vulnerabilities without manual intervention.