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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 11 Feb 2022.
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-22587

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.6.3 / 12.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3, macOS Big Sur 11.6.3, macOS Monterey 12.2. A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited..

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability in the kernel that allows a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with kernel-level privileges. The issue was addressed through improved input validation and was actively exploited as a zero-day before patches were released for iOS 15.3, iPadOS 15.3, macOS Big Sur 11.6.3, and macOS Monterey 12.2.

MitigationApply the available security updates (iOS 15.3/iPadOS 15.3 or macOS Big Sur 11.6.3/Monterey 12.2) immediately as this vulnerability was being actively exploited in the wild.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 15.3
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 15.3
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 11.6.3>= 12.0, < 12.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check iOS version on iPhone
    Go to Settings > General > About and note the version number under 'Version'. Alternatively, connect device to computer and use idevicesyslog or check via iTunes/Finder.
    Affected if Version is lower than 15.3 (e.g., 15.2, 15.1, 15.0)
  2. Check iPadOS version on iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About and note the version number under 'Version'.
    Affected if Version is lower than 15.3 (e.g., 15.2, 15.1, 15.0)
  3. Check macOS version on Mac
    Click Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal to get the exact version number.
    Affected if Version is 11.x and below 11.6.3, OR version is 12.0.x or 12.1.x (anything from 12.0 to 12.1 inclusive)
  4. Identify macOS release name
    In Terminal, run 'sw_vers -productVersion' to get the numeric version, then cross-reference with Apple release notes to confirm if it is Big Sur (11.x) or Monterey (12.x).
    Affected if Running Big Sur 11.6.2 or earlier, or Monterey 12.0, 12.1, or 12.2 beta/dev versions before 12.2 stable

Your device is affected if it runs iOS/iPadOS below 15.3, or macOS Big Sur below 11.6.3, or macOS Monterey between 12.0 and 12.1 inclusive.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 11.6.3 / 12.2 / 15.3 or later
Fixed in 11.6.312.215.3
Interim mitigation

Apply the available security updates (iOS 15.3/iPadOS 15.3 or macOS Big Sur 11.6.3/Monterey 12.2) immediately as this vulnerability was being actively exploited in the wild.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 15.3 / iPadOS 15.3 / macOS Big Sur 11.6.3 / macOS Monterey 12.2

  1. Back up your device data before performing any system update
  2. Check the current iOS/iPadOS version by navigating to Settings > General > About, or check macOS version by clicking Apple menu > About This Mac
  3. For iOS/iPadOS devices: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS 15.3 or iPadOS 15.3
  4. For macOS devices: Open System Preferences (or System Settings on newer macOS) > Software Update and install the appropriate update (macOS Big Sur 11.6.3 or macOS Monterey 12.2 depending on your hardware)
  5. Restart the device after the update completes
  6. Verify the update was successful by checking the version number again
Caveat Standard OS update risks apply - ensure backup before upgrading; some legacy applications may not be compatible with newer OS versions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ipados Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-22587 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data