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Apple patched a vulnerability in Hide My Email that could reveal users’ real email addresses when messages sent to an alias were rejected as spam, exposing the underlying address in email logs. Researcher Tyler Murphy of EasyOptOut reported the issue to Apple in June 2025, but reports say the company did not fully remediate it until July 3, 2026, after public coverage highlighted that the flaw remained exploitable despite an earlier claim that it had been fixed.
Limited testing by the researcher indicated that all tested Hide My Email aliases were vulnerable, and users who created addresses before July 7, 2026 may still face exposure through retained third-party mail logs generated before the patch. The incident has triggered a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Apple of false advertising and consumer protection violations, with plaintiffs seeking reimbursement of subscription costs and an injunction related to the service.
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A lawsuit was filed against Apple over the Hide My Email vulnerability, seeking class action status, recovery of subscription costs, and injunctive relief. The complaint alleges false advertising and consumer protection violations tied to the privacy feature.
Researchers warned that Hide My Email addresses created before 2026-07-07 may still have been exposed through retained third-party mail logs. The warning indicated that historical logs could continue to reveal real email addresses even after the patch.
Apple told Tyler Murphy in March 2026 that the Hide My Email vulnerability had been fixed. However, the flaw reportedly remained exploitable after that response.
EasyOptOuts co-founder Tyler Murphy reported a Hide My Email flaw to Apple in June 2025. The issue could expose a user's real email address when messages sent to an alias were rejected as spam.
Apple deployed a patch for the Hide My Email vulnerability on 2026-07-03, more than a year after the initial report. The fix came after 404 Media covered the issue, according to the reports.
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A reported vulnerability in Apple’s iCloud+ **Hide My Email** service allows an attacker with only a relay alias to uncover the user’s real email address, defeating a privacy feature widely used to mask identity. Researcher **Tyler Murphy** of EasyOptOuts said he disclosed the issue to Apple in June 2025, and multiple outlets reported that **404 Media** independently verified the flaw by recovering a reporter’s actual Apple ID email from a newly created alias. Public reporting says the issue requires no account compromise, special access, or social engineering, raising risks of phishing, spam correlation, account linkage, and exposure of personal details through people-search services. Apple reportedly acknowledged the bug in 2025 and later told Murphy that a system change had addressed it, but follow-up testing found the deanonymization still worked more than a year after disclosure. Murphy said volunteer testing showed all tested aliases were reversible, though the full scope across the user base remains unclear, and exact exploitation details were withheld while Apple continued investigating. As of the reports, Apple had not issued a public advisory or CVE, and separate coverage noted that Apple’s planned migration of masked addresses to the `@private.icloud.com` domain could make Hide My Email aliases easier for websites and apps to identify and block.
Jul 9, 2026
Apple is facing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that its **Hide My Email** feature exposed users’ real email addresses to websites and apps despite being marketed as a privacy protection. The complaint says the flaw allowed aliases generated through iCloud+ to be linked back to a user’s actual address, potentially defeating the purpose of the service and raising claims under California false advertising and consumer protection laws. According to the filings, a security researcher reported the issue to Apple in June 2025, Apple acknowledged it the following month, later said in March that it had addressed the problem, and then indicated in May that a patch would be released within weeks, but the lawsuit alleges the vulnerability remained unresolved. The suit seeks compensation for iCloud+ subscribers and other users who paid for privacy protections that allegedly did not work as advertised, while reports say there are **no known cases of active exploitation** and technical reproduction details have not been publicly disclosed.
Jul 18, 2026
Apple said new anonymous relay addresses created through **iCloud+ Hide My Email** and **Sign in with Apple** will use the shared domain `private.icloud.com`, replacing the current split between `privaterelay.appleid.com` and `icloud.com` for newly generated addresses. The company said the change will roll out later this summer, while existing relay addresses on the legacy domains will continue to function without interruption. Apple told developers, app operators, and email service providers to update validation logic, allowlists, filtering, suppression lists, and routing rules so messages sent to `private.icloud.com` are accepted alongside the older domains. The change has drawn criticism from some users, who argue that a distinct relay domain could make Hide My Email addresses easier for websites and apps to detect and potentially block, weakening the privacy feature’s usefulness for anonymous sign-ups.
Jun 29, 2026