Apple Patches Beats Studio Buds Flaw Letting Nearby Attackers Spy via Microphone
Apple has patched a high-severity vulnerability in its Beats Studio Buds wireless earbuds that might allow neighboring hackers to listen in on users.
The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-20701 (CVSS score: 8.8), relates to an instance of improper authorization affecting the Airoha Bluetooth audio SDK, which allows a Bluetooth audio device to be paired without user permission.
If the vulnerability is successfully exploited, remote privilege escalation may result without the need for further execution privileges or user input. Beats Firmware Update 1B211 has fixed the problem.
According to a warning issued by Apple this week, an attacker within Bluetooth range may be able to listen through the microphone of a device that is not yet linked and actively seeking pair requests rea...