CVE-2023-23540: High severity Apple macOS Big Sur vulnerability

Published Mar 27, 2023
·
Updated

Accessibility. A privacy issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries.

Other sources

App Store. A privacy issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries.

— Apple

Apple Neural Engine. The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

— Apple

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, macOS Monterey 12.6.4, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5. An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4. An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Credit

Mohamed GHANNAM@@_simo36, Wojciech Reguła@@_r3ggi(SecuRing), Mickey Jin@@patch1t, Brandon Dalton@@partyD0lphin(Red Canary), Csaba Fitzl@@theevilbit(Offensive Security), Rıza Sabuncu@@rizasabuncu, JeongOhKyea, Tingting Yin(Tsinghua University), Aleksandar Nikolic(Cisco Talos), Adam M., Ye Zhang@@VAR10CK(Baidu Security), an anonymous researcher, Murray Mike, Arsenii Kostromin (0x3c3e), Félix Poulin-Bélanger, David Pan Ogea, Xinru Chi(Pangu Lab), Ned Williamson(Google Project Zero), sqrtpwn, Pan ZhenPeng(STAR Labs SG Pte), Zweig(Kunlun Lab), Joshua Jones, Zhuowei Zhang, Mickey Jin@@patch1t(FFRI Security Inc), Koh M. Nakagawa(FFRI Security Inc), (Offensive Security), Yiğit Can YILMAZ@@yilmazcanyigit, Jubaer Alnazi Jabin(TRS Group Of Companies), Wenchao Li(Alibaba Group), Xiaolong Bai(Alibaba Group), Guilherme Rambo(Best Buddy Apps), CVE-2023-0433, CVE-2023-0512, Antonio Zekic@@antoniozekic, John Aakerblom@@jaakerblom, ryuzaki, Mohamed GHANNAM, Mohamed Ghannam@@_simo36, Itay Iellin(General Motors Product Cyber Security), Etienne Charron(Renault), Khadim Dieng(Renault), Jianjun Dai(360 Vulnerability Research Institute), Guang Gong(360 Vulnerability Research Institute), Jubaer Alnazi(TRS Group of Companies), Meysam Firouzi@@R00tkitSMM(Mbition Mercedes), jzhu(Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative), Pan ZhenPeng@@Peterpan0927(STAR Labs SG Pte), Zechao Cai@@Zech4o(Zhejiang University), Adam Doupé(ASU SEFCOM), an anonymous researcher(Red Canary), Milan Tenk(F), (F), Arthur Valiev(F), Abhay Kailasia@@abhay_kailasia(Lakshmi Narain College Of Technology Bhopal), developStorm, Anton Spivak, (Alibaba Group), Xin Huang@@11iaxH, Gertjan Franken(imec), KU Leuven, hazbinhotel(Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative), Hyeon Park@@tree_segment(Team ApplePIE), Georgy Kucherin@@kucher1n(Kaspersky), Leonid Bezvershenko@@bzvr_(Kaspersky), Boris Larin@@oct0xor(Kaspersky), (Kaspersky), Valentin Pashkov(Kaspersky), Anonymous(Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative), Dohyun Lee@@l33d0hyun(SSD Labs), crixer@@pwning_me(SSD Labs)

Affected Software

12 affected componentsFixes available
Apple macOS Big Sur<11.7.5
11.7.5
macOS<12.6.4
12.6.4
Apple iOS and iPadOS<16.4
16.4
Apple iOS, iPadOS, and macOS<16.4
16.4
Apple iOS and iPadOS<15.7.8
15.7.8
Apple iOS, iPadOS, and macOS<15.7.8
15.7.8
Apple iOS, iPadOS, and macOS<15.7.8
Apple iOS, iPadOS, and macOS>=16.0<16.4
iPhone OS<15.7.8
iPhone OS>=16.0<16.4
macOS<11.7.5
macOS>=12.0<12.6.4

Event History

Mar 27, 2023
Data Sourced
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeaknessAffected Software
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeakness
May 8, 2023
CVE Published
via MITRE·12:00 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeakness
Data Sourced
08:15 PM
Description

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Peer vulnerabilities

Found alongside the following vulnerabilities.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2023-23540?

CVE-2023-23540 is a vulnerability in Apple Neural Engine that allows an app to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

2

How can this vulnerability be exploited?

This vulnerability can be exploited by an app to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

3

What is the severity of CVE-2023-23540?

CVE-2023-23540 has a severity rating of high with a CVSS score of 7.8.

4

Which Apple software versions are affected by CVE-2023-23540?

CVE-2023-23540 affects macOS Big Sur up to version 11.7.5, iOS up to version 15.7.8, iPadOS up to version 15.7.8, macOS Monterey up to version 12.6.4, iOS up to version 16.4, and iPadOS up to version 16.4.

5

How can I fix CVE-2023-23540?

CVE-2023-23540 is fixed in iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, macOS Monterey 12.6.4, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5. Update your software to the latest version to fix the vulnerability.

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