Israeli cybersecurity firm Oligo Security has published a comprehensive technical analysis revealing a critical Zero-Click Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Apple’s AirPlay protocol. RCE vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on target devices without physical access, often leading to full system compromise.

AirPlay is Apple’s proprietary wireless streaming protocol, is widely used across iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple TVs, and other IoT devices such as smart TVs and speakers, to stream audio, video, and screen content.​

The vulnerability, part of a cluster of 11 bugs disclosed to Apple, exposes significant flaws in the way AirPlay handles property list (plist) payloads, a structured data format used across Apple systems to transmit settings and parameters in requests. In AirPlay, plists are used to deliver command arguments, making them a key component of how the protocol functions.​

Oligo demonstrated a proof-of-concept (PoC) to showcase the impact, earning the name “Airborne” for its ability to infect devices over the air, silently and remotely.​

AirPlay operates over port 7000 and communicates using a hybrid of HTTP and Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) protocols. Many of its commands are sent via HTTP requests, with their data formatted in structured plist format, used throughout the Apple ecosystem.

One of the disclosed CVEs, CVE-2025-24129, affects the /getProperty endpoint.

Here’s how the flaw works step-by-step:

The following code (reconstructed from Oligo’s analysis) shows how the vulnerability plays out:

1. HTTP Request to /getProperty Endpoint

An attacker sends an HTTP POST request to the /getProperty endpoint on an AirPlay receiver. This request contains a malformed plist payload intended to exploit the vulnerability.

2. Parsing with CFPropertyListCreateWithData

The server uses the CFPropertyListCreateWithData function to parse the incoming plist data. This function is meant to transform the raw data into a usable property list (plist) object. However, there is no validation of the data type returned.

3. Assumption of CFDictionary
The code assumes that the resulting object is a CFDictionary, a dictionary of key-value pairs. This is where the flaw occurs: if the plist payload isn’t a dictionary but a string or some other type, the code doesn’t handle it properly.

4. Calling Dictionary Functions on Incorrect Types

After the plist is parsed, the code calls functions like CFDictionaryGetValue on the resulting object. Since it assumes the object is a dictionary, calling CFDictionaryGetValue on a string or other non-dictionary type results in undefined behavior.

5. Crash or Code Execution

The crash occurs because the function expects a dictionary structure, but the actual payload might be malformed. In some cases, depending on the memory layout and system configuration, this flaw could allow for remote code execution or lead to further exploits.

The critical issue is the lack of type checking after CFPropertyListCreateWithData, the code expects a dictionary, but there’s no guarantee that the payload is structured that way.

Additional CVEs
In addition to CVE-2025-24129, Oligo Security reported several other vulnerabilities affecting the AirPlay protocol:​

• CVE-2025-24126: An input validation issue that may allow an attacker on the local network to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt process memory.
• CVE-2025-24131: A denial-of-service vulnerability addressed with improved memory handling.
• CVE-2025-24137: A type confusion issue that may allow an attacker on the local network to corrupt process memory.
• CVE-2025-24177 and CVE-2025-24179: Null pointer dereference issues addressed with improved input validation.
• CVE-2025-24132: A vulnerability in the AirPlay SDK addressed in AirPlay Audio SDK 2.7.1, AirPlay Video SDK 3.6.0.126, and CarPlay Communication Plug-in R18.1 updates.

Apple has addressed these issues and related bugs in their latest updates for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and visionOS. Users and administrators are strongly advised to update all Apple devices immediately.

Tenable has also updated Nessus scan repositories to detect vulnerable versions of AirPlay.

We recommend organizations take the following actions to mitigate risk:

1. Run a network-wide vulnerability scan targeting Apple devices using the updated Nessus plugins.
2. Use MDM (Mobile Device Management) platforms to push the latest Apple updates across the environment.

This is another reminder that even trusted, built-in services like AirPlay can become attack surfaces, especially in modern, interconnected environments.

The “Airborne” exploit is a rare but powerful example of a zero-click bug in a proprietary Apple protocol, and its responsible disclosure by Oligo Security has given the ecosystem time to react.

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