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DarkSword is an iOS exploit developer and operator associated with a sophisticated multi-stage Safari exploit chain. Its tooling exploited JavaScriptCore vulnerabilities for remote code execution, then used a dyld vulnerability to bypass user-mode Pointer Authentication Code protections. The chain escaped Safari’s WebContent sandbox through an ANGLE vulnerability to obtain code execution in the GPU process, escaped the GPU sandbox through an XNU vulnerability to reach mediaplaybackd, and exploited an XNU virtual-file-system race condition to gain kernel-level physical and virtual memory read/write primitives. DarkSword used version-specific exploit paths across iOS 18 releases. Apple addressed the vulnerabilities used in successive iOS security updates. DarkSword has also been linked to development of the GHOSTBLADE post-exploitation framework. Technical overlap has been observed between DarkSword’s renderer-stage exploitation and a separate iOS exploit delivery campaign, though the observed exploit variant was distinct.
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Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
Attributed origin per open-source reporting.
8 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
1 malware family attributed to this actor across reporting.
6 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 6 of them exploited in the wild.
This exploit leverages CVE-2025-14174, a vulnerability in ANGLE where parameters were not sufficiently validated in a specific WebGL operation, leading to out-of-bounds memory operations in Safari's GPU process which the DarkSword developers use to execute arbitrary code within the GPU process.
For devices running versions of iOS prior to 18.6, DarkSword uses CVE-2025-31277, a JIT optimization/type confusion bug which was patched by Apple in iOS 18.6.
DarkSword uses another sandbox escape exploit, sbx1_main.js, which leverages CVE-2025-43510, a memory management vulnerability in XNU. This is a copy-on-write bug which is exploited to build arbitrary function call primitives in mediaplaybackd.
This uses CVE-2025-43520, a kernel-mode race condition in XNU's virtual filesystem (VFS) implementation, which can be exploited to build physical and virtual memory read/write primitives.
For devices running iOS 18.6-18.7, DarkSword uses CVE-2025-43529, a garbage collection bug in the Data Flow Graph (DFG) JIT layer of JavaScriptCore which was patched by Apple in iOS 18.7.3 and 26.2 after it was reported by GTIG.
1 more CVE tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
5 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.
Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.
Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.
CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.