cbcvebase.
CVE-2023-42917
published 2023-11-30

CVE-2023-42917: A memory corruption vulnerability was addressed with improved locking. This issue is fixed in iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2, macOS Sonoma 14.1.2, Safari 17.1.2…

PriorityP187high8.8CVSS 3.1
AVNACLPRNUIRSUCHIHAH
KEVITW
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilitydue 2023-12-25
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
9.37%
94.8th percentile
A memory corruption vulnerability was addressed with improved locking. This issue is fixed in iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2, macOS Sonoma 14.1.2, Safari 17.1.2. Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1.

Affected

25 ranges
VendorProductVersion rangeFixed in
appleios_15.8.1_and_ipados
appleios_16.7.3_and_ipados
appleios_17.1.2_and_ipados
appleios_and_ipados>= unspecified < 17.117.1
appleipados< 15.8.115.8.1
appleipados>= 16.0 < 16.7.316.7.3
appleipados>= 17.0 < 17.1.217.1.2
appleiphone_os< 15.8.115.8.1
appleiphone_os>= 16.0 < 16.7.316.7.3
appleiphone_os>= 17.0 < 17.1.217.1.2
applemacos>= 14.0 < 14.1.214.1.2
applemacos>= unspecified < 14.114.1
applemacos_sonoma
applesafari< 17.1.217.1.2
applesafari
applesafari>= unspecified < 17.117.1
appletvos
applewatchos
debiandebian_linux
debiandebian_linux
debianwebkit2gtk< webkit2gtk 2.42.3-1~deb12u1 (bookworm)webkit2gtk 2.42.3-1~deb12u1 (bookworm)
debianwpewebkit< webkit2gtk 2.42.3-1~deb12u1 (bookworm)webkit2gtk 2.42.3-1~deb12u1 (bookworm)
fedoraprojectfedora
fedoraprojectfedora
webkitgtkwebkitgtk< 2.42.32.42.3

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

  • CVE-2023-42917 is a WebKit memory corruption vulnerability exploited in the wild against iOS versions before iOS 16.7.1; monitor for suspicious web content processing activity on unpatched Apple devices (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Safari)
  • CVE-2023-42917 enables arbitrary code execution via malicious web content; treat any unexplained code execution originating from WebKit/Safari browser processes on Apple devices as a potential indicator of exploitation
  • Exploitation of CVE-2023-42917 was observed on iOS versions predating 16.7.1 (released Oct. 10, 2023); use this version boundary as a detection/triage threshold when investigating potentially compromised Apple devices
  • CVE-2023-42917 (alongside CVE-2023-42916) was backported and patched for older iPhone/iPad models in January 2024; devices not yet updated to iOS 16.7.6 / iPadOS 16.7.6 or later remain at risk and should be prioritized in vulnerability scanning
  • iOS zero-days such as CVE-2023-42917 are commonly leveraged in state-sponsored spyware campaigns targeting high-risk individuals (journalists, dissidents, opposition politicians); correlate exploitation attempts with known spyware infrastructure and targeted-attack TTPs
  • ·Apple has not publicly disclosed technical details, exploit samples, or attribution for CVE-2023-42917 exploitation; no hashes, IPs, domains, or specific exploit payloads are available in the provided sources
  • ·The vulnerability is a memory corruption flaw in WebKit addressed with improved locking; exploitation requires the victim to process malicious web content, meaning the attack surface is the browser/WebKit rendering engine

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.18.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
osv8.8HIGH
vulncheck8.8HIGH
cisa8.8HIGH
vendor_debian8.8HIGH
vendor_oracle8.8HIGH
vendor_redhat8.8HIGH
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