dbcve.org
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2023-40408

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1 / 16.7.2 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An inconsistent user interface issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.1, watchOS 10.1, iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2, iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1. Hide My Email may be deactivated unexpectedly.

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

Hide My Email feature in Apple operating systems can be unexpectedly deactivated due to improper UI state management. This inconsistent interface issue allows the privacy feature to be disabled without explicit user intent, potentially exposing user email addresses.

MitigationApply vendor patches for macOS Sonoma 14.1, watchOS 10.1, iOS/iPadOS 16.7.2, and iOS/iPadOS 17.1 to address the UI state management flaw.

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:< 16.7.2>= 17.0, < 17.1
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 16.7.2>= 17.0, < 17.1
macOSOperating system
Affected:= 14.0
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 10.1

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
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 or iPadOS version
    Open Settings > General > About and note the version number (e.g., 17.0.1, 16.7.1)
    Affected if Version is less than 16.7.2, or greater than or equal to 17.0 but less than 17.1 (for iPadOS or iPhone OS)
  2. Check macOS version
    Open System Settings > About and note the version number (e.g., 14.0, 14.1)
    Affected if Version is exactly 14.0 (macOS Sonoma initial release)
  3. Check watchOS version
    Open Settings > General > About on Apple Watch and note the version number
    Affected if Version is less than 10.1 (any version before watchOS 10.1)
  4. Verify Hide My Email status on iOS/iPadOS
    Navigate to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Hide My Email (or Settings > Safari > Hide My Email on older iOS) and confirm whether the feature shows as enabled or unexpectedly disabled
    Affected if Feature appears disabled when you did not intentionally disable it, combined with an affected OS version from steps 1-3
  5. Verify Hide My Email status on macOS
    Open System Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Hide My Email (or Safari > Settings > Privacy) and check if the feature is enabled
    Affected if Feature appears disabled when you did not intentionally disable it, combined with an affected macOS version (14.0)

You are affected if your device runs any iOS/iPadOS version less than 16.7.2 or between 17.0 and 17.0.x, macOS exactly 14.0, or watchOS less than 10.1 AND the Hide My Email feature is unexpectedly disabled without your intentional action.

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 10.1 / 16.7.2 / 17.1 or later
Fixed in 10.116.7.217.1
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches for macOS Sonoma 14.1, watchOS 10.1, iOS/iPadOS 16.7.2, and iOS/iPadOS 17.1 to address the UI state management flaw.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 16.7.2 or iOS 17.1 / iPadOS 16.7.2 or iPadOS 17.1 / macOS Sonoma 14.1 / watchOS 10.1

  1. For iPhone users: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 16.7.2 or iOS 17.1 depending on your current iOS version
  2. For iPad users: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iPadOS 16.7.2 or iPadOS 17.1 depending on your current iPadOS version
  3. For Mac users running macOS 14.0: Go to System Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14.1
  4. For Apple Watch users: On the iPhone, open the Watch app, go to My Watch > General > Software Update and upgrade to watchOS 10.1
Caveat Standard OS update risks apply; backup data before upgrading

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-2023-40408 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