dbcve.org
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-26701

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.6.6 / 12.4 or later.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 race condition was addressed with improved locking. This issue is fixed in tvOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5. An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

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 · moderate confidence

A race condition in the kernel allows a local application to potentially execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. The vulnerability stems from insufficient locking synchronization, which was addressed with improved locking mechanisms in the patched versions.

MitigationApply the available security updates for tvOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5, or iPadOS 15.5. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability requiring an application to already be running on the target system.

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:< 15.5
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 15.5
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 11.0, < 11.6.6>= 12.0.0, < 12.4
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 15.4

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/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 macOS version on Apple devices
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version is 11.0 through 11.6.5, or 12.0.0 through 12.3.x (these fall within the vulnerable ranges of >= 11.0, < 11.6.6 or >= 12.0.0, < 12.4)
  2. Check iOS version on iPhone
    Go to Settings > General > About, or use idevicesyslog via USB with a Mac to query the device
    Affected if The iOS version is below 15.5 (any version < 15.5 is affected)
  3. Check iPadOS version on iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About, or use idevicesyslog via USB with a Mac to query the device
    Affected if The iPadOS version is below 15.5 (any version < 15.5 is affected)
  4. Check tvOS version on Apple TV
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version on the Apple TV interface
    Affected if The tvOS version is below 15.4 (any version < 15.4 is affected)
  5. Verify this is a local attack scenario
    Confirm that exploitation requires a malicious application already running on the device (this is not a remote vulnerability)
    Affected if The device runs untrusted third-party applications and is on an affected OS version

The device is affected if it runs any version of iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS below the fixed releases (15.5 for iOS/iPadOS, 15.4 for tvOS) or macOS versions 11.0-11.6.5 or 12.0-12.3.x, and if untrusted local applications can be executed on the system.

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 11.6.6 / 12.4 / 15.4 or later
Fixed in 11.6.612.415.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the available security updates for tvOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5, or iPadOS 15.5. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability requiring an application to already be running on the target system.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, tvOS 15.5, macOS 12.4 (Monterey) or macOS 11.6.6 (Big Sur)

  1. For iPhone: Upgrade to iOS 15.5 or later via Settings > General > Software Update
  2. For iPad: Upgrade to iPadOS 15.5 or later via Settings > General > Software Update
  3. For Apple TV: Upgrade to tvOS 15.5 or later via Settings > General > System > Software Update
  4. For Mac: Upgrade to macOS 12.4 (Monterey) or later via System Preferences > Software Update. For macOS Big Sur (11.x) users, upgrade to 11.6.6 or later.
Caveat Standard OS upgrade considerations apply - review app compatibility before upgrading, back up device data

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

Fix this in Ipados Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,100
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-26701 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