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IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-32844

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.7 / 15.6 or later.
See remediation →
65/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 race condition was addressed with improved state handling. This issue is fixed in tvOS 15.6, watchOS 8.7, iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6. An app with arbitrary kernel read and write capability may be able to bypass Pointer Authentication.

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 race condition in Pointer Authentication (PAC) state handling in Apple mobile operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS) allows an attacker who already possesses arbitrary kernel read/write capabilities to bypass PAC checks, potentially enabling further privilege escalation or persistence within the kernel.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied OS updates: iOS 15.6+, iPadOS 15.6+, watchOS 8.7+, or tvOS 15.6+ to address the race condition in PAC state handling.

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:< 15.6
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 15.6
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 15.6
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 8.7

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

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

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. Alternatively, run 'idevicesyslog' or check via Finder/iTunes. Compare to 15.6
    Affected if Version is below 15.6
  2. Check iPadOS version on iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About and note the Version number. Compare to 15.6
    Affected if Version is below 15.6
  3. Check watchOS version on Apple Watch
    Open the Watch app on iPhone, go to General > About, and note the Version. Compare to 8.7
    Affected if Version is below 8.7
  4. Check tvOS version on Apple TV
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version. Compare to 15.6
    Affected if Version is below 15.6
  5. Confirm device has PAC hardware support
    Pointer Authentication requires Apple A12 Bionic chip or later (2018 and newer devices). Check processor model via device specifications or system_profiler on macOS with device connected
    Affected if Device uses A11 Bionic or older processor (PAC not present, so this specific PAC bypass does not apply)

The device is affected if it runs any of iOS, iPadOS, tvOS below 15.6 or watchOS below 8.7 AND uses an A12 Bionic chip or newer that supports Pointer Authentication.

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 8.7 / 15.6 or later
Fixed in 8.715.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied OS updates: iOS 15.6+, iPadOS 15.6+, watchOS 8.7+, or tvOS 15.6+ to address the race condition in PAC state handling.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 15.6 / iPadOS 15.6 / tvOS 15.6 / watchOS 8.7 (or later)

  1. Identify the Apple device (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Apple Watch) that needs to be patched
  2. Check the current OS version on the device in Settings > General > About
  3. For iPhone or iPad: Navigate to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 15.6 or later / iPadOS 15.6 or later
  4. For Apple TV: Go to Settings > System > Software Updates and upgrade to tvOS 15.6 or later
  5. For Apple Watch: On the iPhone, open the Watch app, go to My Watch > General > Software Update and upgrade to watchOS 8.7 or later
  6. After updating, verify the device is running the fixed version by checking Settings > General > About
Caveat Point releases typically have minimal breaking changes; however, some third-party apps may have compatibility issues with the new OS version

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

Fix this in Ipados Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

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-2022-32844 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