Microsoft finds macOS flaw letting hackers steal Apple Intelligence user data
Microsoft has revealed a serious macOS vulnerability that allowed attackers to bypass Apple's privacy system and access data from folders like Downloads and Apple Intelligence caches. The flaw, named Sploitlight, was patched in macOS Sequoia 15.4 in March 2025.
New Delhi: Microsoft has flagged a serious security flaw in macOS that could let attackers sneak into private files normally protected by Apple’s privacy shield, known as Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC). The flaw was buried deep inside Spotlight, the Mac search tool that helps users find files and apps.
Dubbed "Sploitlight,” the vulnerability allowed attackers to bypass Apple’s privacy settings and quietly grab data from protected folders like Downloads and Pictures. What makes this more worrying is that Apple Intelligence, the new AI system built into Macs, stores sensitive files in these folders. So attackers could end up getting more than just a resume or selfie, we're talking location history, face data, and search activity.
Apple's Spotlight turned into a privacy risk
Spotlight uses special plugins called .mdimporters to help index files for faster search. These plugins run with restricted access. But Microsoft researchers Jonathan Bar Or, Alexia Wilson, and Christine Fossaceca figured out a way to trick Spotlight into leaking protected files without asking for user permission.
They built a proof-of-concept exploit named "Sploitlight,” which changes how Spotlight plugins behave. By editing a plugin’s metadata and forcing Spotlight to load it, attackers could read sensitive file contents and log them, even though the system believes those files are protected.
All this data lives inside files like Photos.sqlite and photos.db, which are created and cached by Apple Intelligence. These files normally stay off-limits unless users give explicit consent. But Sploitlight didn’t need that. It just logged the contents chunk by chunk and made them readable through Apple’s unified logging system.
iCloud-linked devices also at risk
The risk doesn’t stop at one device. Since Apple syncs metadata across devices using the same iCloud account, attackers with access to a single Mac could pull details about a user’s iPhone or iPad too. This includes things like face tags, shared albums, and AI summaries written by tools like ChatGPT.
"This is particularly alarming due to the highly sensitive nature of the information,” Microsoft wrote in its Threat Intelligence blog, published July 29. "Understanding the implications of TCC bypass vulnerabilities is essential for building proactive defenses.”
Microsoft shared its findings with Apple earlier this year, and the issue was patched in macOS Sequoia 15.4 in March 2025. The flaw has been tracked as CVE-2025-31199.
Not the first time TCC has been bypassed
This isn’t the first time Apple’s TCC system has been exploited. Back in October 2024, Microsoft uncovered another flaw, CVE-2024-44133, called HM Surf, which let attackers remove privacy restrictions from Safari. That attack allowed access to user browsing history, camera, microphone, and even location data.
Both attacks highlight growing concerns about how Apple’s privacy systems, while robust on the surface, may still have loopholes when low-level system tools like Spotlight are involved.
If you’re running a Mac, update it to the latest version of macOS Sequoia 15.4 or later. That’s the only way to stay safe from Sploitlight. The good news is Apple patched it quickly after being informed by Microsoft under Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure.