Apple Patches High-Severity Bluetooth Eavesdropping Vulnerability in Beats Studio Buds

Apple has released a firmware update to fix a critical vulnerability in its Beats Studio Buds wireless earbuds that could allow nearby attackers to eavesdrop on users through the device's microphone. The flaw, designated CVE-2025-20701 with a CVSS severity score of 8.8, stems from improper authentication in the Airoha Bluetooth audio SDK used by the earbuds. The vulnerability enables attackers within Bluetooth range to impersonate previously paired devices and initiate new pairings without user consent, potentially gaining unauthorized access to the microphone.

The vulnerability was publicly disclosed in June 2025 by security researchers Dennis Heinze and Frieder Steinmetz of ERNW GmbH at the TROOPERS security conference in Germany, who identified three related flaws in Airoha System-on-Chip (SoC) devices. According to the researchers, successful exploitation could grant attackers complete control over the headphones, including the ability to read and write device memory and hijack established trust relationships with paired devices such as smartphones. Apple has addressed the issue through Beats Firmware Update 1B211, which is automatically delivered to users when their earbuds are paired with and within Bluetooth range of an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

The patch comes as other manufacturers have taken similar action. Jabra released patched versions in December 2025, while Bose and JBL have issued statements confirming that their products have been updated to incorporate the security fixes. Airoha released an updated software development kit following the initial disclosure to allow hardware manufacturers to address the vulnerabilities in their products. Users can verify whether they have installed the patch by accessing Bluetooth settings on their Apple device and checking the firmware version information displayed next to their Beats Studio Buds.