dbcve.org
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2023-40452

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0 / 12.7 or later.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.6, tvOS 17, macOS Monterey 12.7, watchOS 10, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma 14. An app may be able to overwrite arbitrary files.

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 local arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in Apple's operating systems (macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS) that allowed a malicious application to bypass sandbox restrictions and overwrite arbitrary files on the system due to insufficient bounds checking in the affected component.

MitigationApply the available vendor patches (iOS 17+, iPadOS 17+, macOS Ventura 13.6+, macOS Monterey 12.7+, macOS Sonoma 14+, tvOS 17, watchOS 10) to all affected devices to remediate the 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
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 17.0
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 17.0
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 12.0.0, < 12.7>= 13.0, < 13.6
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 17.0
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 10.0

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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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 your Apple device and operating system
    Determine whether the device is a Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Apple Watch. On macOS, you can run 'sw_vers' in Terminal to confirm the product name.
    Affected if The device runs any of the affected Apple operating systems (macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS)
  2. Check the installed macOS version
    Open Terminal and run 'sw_vers -productVersion' to retrieve the exact version number (for example, 13.5 or 12.6).
    Affected if The version is 12.0.0 through 12.6.x, or 13.0 through 13.5.x
  3. Check the installed iOS or iPadOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About on the device and note the version number (for example, 16.7).
    Affected if The version is below 17.0 (any 16.x or earlier release)
  4. Check the installed tvOS or watchOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About on the Apple TV or Apple Watch companion app on iPhone, and note the version number.
    Affected if The tvOS version is below 17.0 or the watchOS version is below 10.0

The environment is affected if the device runs any macOS version 12.0.0-12.6.x or 13.0-13.5.x, or any iOS/iPadOS/tvOS version below 17.0, or any watchOS version below 10.0.

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 10.0 / 12.7 / 13.6 or later
Fixed in 10.012.713.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the available vendor patches (iOS 17+, iPadOS 17+, macOS Ventura 13.6+, macOS Monterey 12.7+, macOS Sonoma 14+, tvOS 17, watchOS 10) to all affected devices to remediate the vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 17+, iPadOS 17+, macOS Monterey 12.7+, macOS Ventura 13.6+, macOS Sonoma 14+, tvOS 17+, watchOS 10+

  1. For iOS/iPadOS: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 17 or iPadOS 17
  2. For macOS Monterey (12.x): Go to System Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to macOS Monterey 12.7
  3. For macOS Ventura (13.x): Go to System Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to macOS Ventura 13.6
  4. For macOS Sonoma (14.x): Go to System Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14
  5. For tvOS: Go to Settings > General > About > Software Update and upgrade to tvOS 17
  6. For watchOS: Go to Settings > General > Software Update on the watch or Watch app on iPhone and upgrade to watchOS 10
  7. After upgrading, verify the update was successful by checking the OS version in each device's settings
Caveat Major OS upgrades may have app compatibility implications; review app developer release notes and test critical applications before production deployment

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
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

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-2023-40452 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