macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-26723

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.6.6 / 12.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 macOS Monterey 12.4, macOS Big Sur 11.6.6. Mounting a maliciously crafted Samba network share may lead to arbitrary code execution.

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

Memory corruption vulnerability in macOS SMB/CIFS mounting implementation. When mounting a maliciously crafted Samba network share, improper input validation leads to memory corruption that can be exploited for arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply macOS security updates (Monterey 12.4+ or Big Sur 11.6.6+) to all affected systems. Until patched, avoid mounting Samba shares from untrusted or unknown network sources.

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
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 11.0, < 11.6.6>= 12.0, < 12.4

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
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. Identify installed macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal to get the exact macOS version number
    Affected if The version is 11.0 to 11.6.5 (Big Sur) or 12.0 to 12.3 (Monterey)
  2. Confirm SMB client is in use
    Check if SMB mounting capability is present by running 'ls /mnt' or inspecting /etc/smb.conf if configured; also check System Preferences > Network for SMB/CIFS client status
    Affected if SMB client components exist and the system has been used to mount network shares
  3. Verify SMB mount activity
    Run 'ls -la /Volumes' to see if any network shares have been mounted, or run 'smbutil status -a' to list active SMB connections
    Affected if Any SMB shares are currently or were previously mounted on the system

A system is affected if it runs macOS Big Sur 11.0-11.6.5 or Monterey 12.0-12.3 AND has SMB/CIFS mounting capability enabled or has mounted network shares.

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 or later
Fixed in 11.6.612.4
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS security updates (Monterey 12.4+ or Big Sur 11.6.6+) to all affected systems. Until patched, avoid mounting Samba shares from untrusted or unknown network sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 or later for 11.x systems; macOS Monterey 12.4 or later for 12.x systems

  1. Back up all important data before performing the update
  2. Open System Preferences (or System Settings on macOS Ventura and later)
  3. Navigate to Software Update
  4. Click 'Check for Update' or allow automatic updates to run
  5. Install macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 or later (for 11.x systems), or macOS Monterey 12.4 or later (for 12.x systems)
  6. Restart the system when prompted to complete the installation
  7. Verify the update was successful by checking the macOS version in About This Mac
Caveat Standard macOS update; major point releases may have compatibility implications for older applications

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

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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-2022-26723 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