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WhatsApp has patched a critical vulnerability that was used in a stealthy spyware campaign against a small group of targeted users. The company said it fixed the flaw in its iOS and Mac clients and notified affected accounts.
The flaw, tracked as CVE 2025 55177, could be chained with an Apple operating system issue tracked as CVE 2025 43300 to compromise devices without any interaction from the user. The Apple vulnerability was patched earlier and was described by Apple as having been used in an extremely sophisticated attack on specific individuals.
Meta and WhatsApp security teams detected the exploit and issued an emergency update for WhatsApp for iPhone and WhatsApp for Mac. The company sent threat notifications to people who it believes were targeted. Meta said that the number of notifications was under two hundred. Users are also encouraged to update to the latest WhatsApp release and install security updates on iPhones and Macs whenever they can.
Amnesty International Security Lab is investigating multiple suspected victims and described the incident as an advanced spyware campaign. Forensic teams are working to confirm who was targeted and how the tools were deployed. It remains unclear which spyware vendor or attacker was responsible.
Technical summaries show the WhatsApp weakness related to linked device message processing. When combined with the ImageIO memory corruption flaw in Apple systems an attacker could deliver code that steals data from the device. The practical result was that messages and other personal data could be at risk on unpatched systems.
Users around the globe and Pakistan should update WhatsApp from official app stores and install Apple system updates without delay. Users who receive a WhatsApp threat notification should follow the guidance in the message and consult their device vendor for further steps. Security teams recommend using strong device locks and reviewing linked devices settings regularly.
