macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-32798

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.5 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.5. An app may be able to gain elevated 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

CVE-2022-32798 is a memory corruption vulnerability in macOS Monterey where an out-of-bounds write occurs due to insufficient input validation. This allows a malicious or compromised application to write data beyond allocated memory boundaries, potentially achieving privilege escalation to execute code with elevated system privileges.

MitigationApply the macOS Monterey 12.5 security update or later to all affected systems to remediate this vulnerability.

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:>= 12.0, < 12.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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 installed macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or click Apple menu > About This Mac to view the version number
    Affected if The version is 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, or 12.4 (any version >= 12.0 but < 12.5)
  2. Confirm macOS Monterey edition
    Verify the version starts with 12.x indicating macOS Monterey. Run 'sw_vers' to see the product name and version
    Affected if The system is running macOS Monterey (12.x) rather than a different macOS release
  3. Verify no security updates applied
    Check System Preferences > Software Update for installed updates, or run 'system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType' to see if 12.5 or later security updates are present
    Affected if The system has not received the macOS 12.5 security update or later

The system is affected if it runs macOS Monterey version 12.0 through 12.4 (any build before 12.5) and has not received the corresponding security update.

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 12.5 or later
Fixed in 12.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the macOS Monterey 12.5 security update or later to all affected systems to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Monterey 12.5 or later

  1. Upgrade macOS to version 12.5 or later. Go to System Preferences > Software Update and install the available update, or download macOS Monterey 12.5 from Apple's website and reinstall the operating system.
Caveat Minor point releases typically do not introduce significant breaking changes; however, some third-party applications may have compatibility issues with newer macOS versions.

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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-32798 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2022-32798 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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