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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 5 Oct 2022.
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-32917

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.7 / 12.6 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6, iOS 15.7 and iPadOS 15.7, iOS 16, macOS Big Sur 11.7. An 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

Kernel privilege escalation vulnerability in Apple operating systems allowing a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with kernel-level privileges. The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks, suggesting an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability in kernel components.

MitigationApply operating system updates: macOS Monterey 12.6, macOS Big Sur 11.7, iOS 15.7/iPadOS 15.7, or iOS 16 and later. This is a critical zero-day vulnerability known to be 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:< 15.7
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 15.7
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 11.0, < 11.7>= 12.0.0, < 12.6

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 the Apple device OS type
    Run 'uname -s' on macOS or check Settings > General > About on iOS/iPadOS to determine if the system is macOS, iOS, or iPadOS
    Affected if The device runs macOS, iOS, or iPadOS
  2. Check macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers' or click Apple menu > About This Mac to view the macOS version number (e.g., 11.6, 12.5)
    Affected if macOS version is 11.0 to 11.6.x OR 12.0.0 to 12.5.x (versions below 11.7 or 12.6)
  3. Check iOS/iPadOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About on the iOS/iPadOS device and note the version number (e.g., 15.6)
    Affected if iOS or iPadOS version is below 15.7 (e.g., 15.6.1, 15.6, 15.5)
  4. Confirm kernel-level access vector
    Verify that the device allows installation of third-party applications (no MDM/Mobile Device Management restrictions blocking app installation)
    Affected if Third-party applications can be installed and run on the device, allowing potential exploitation of the kernel bounds check flaw

The device is affected if it runs iOS/iPadOS < 15.7 or macOS between 11.0-11.6.x or 12.0.0-12.5.x and permits third-party app execution.

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 11.7 / 12.6 / 15.7 or later
Fixed in 11.712.615.7
Interim mitigation

Apply operating system updates: macOS Monterey 12.6, macOS Big Sur 11.7, iOS 15.7/iPadOS 15.7, or iOS 16 and later. This is a critical zero-day vulnerability known to be actively exploited in the wild.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 15.7/iPadOS 15.7 or later; macOS Big Sur 11.7 or macOS Monterey 12.6 or later

  1. Back up your device data before upgrading
  2. For iPhone/iPad: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS 15.7 or iPadOS 15.7 (or iOS 16 if supported)
  3. For macOS Big Sur (11.x): Go to System Preferences > Software Update and install macOS Big Sur 11.7
  4. For macOS Monterey (12.x): Go to System Preferences > Software Update and install macOS Monterey 12.6
  5. Verify the update was successful by checking the OS version in Settings/About
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - ensure compatible apps and backup data before updating

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

Fix this in Ipados Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get it fixed fast

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

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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-2022-32917 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