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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 16 Oct 2023.
FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2023-41993

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.0 / 17.0.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable 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 checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14. Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.

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

A vulnerability in web content processing allows arbitrary code execution through specially crafted web content. This issue was addressed with improved validation checks and affects both macOS and iOS. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild against iOS versions prior to iOS 16.7.

MitigationApply available security updates: upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14 or later, or iOS 16.7 or later, depending on the affected platform.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 37= 38= 39
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0= 12.0
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 17.0.1
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 17.0.1
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 14.0
GraalvmApplication
Affected:= 20.3.13= 21.3.9
JdkApplication
Affected:= 1.8.0
JreApplication
Affected:= 1.8.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Identify the operating system and version
    On Apple devices, go to Settings > General > About to check iOS/iPadOS version. On macOS, click Apple menu > About This Mac to check the macOS version. On Linux, run 'cat /etc/os-release' for Fedora or Debian.
    Affected if The OS is Apple iOS/iPadOS earlier than 17.0.1, macOS earlier than 14.0, Fedora 37/38/39, or Debian 11.0/12.0.
  2. Check if WebKit is in use
    Identify applications that use WebKit for web content rendering. Common WebKit-based browsers include Safari, WebKitGTK on Linux, and any embedded web views in applications.
    Affected if WebKit is used for processing untrusted web content.
  3. For Oracle Java environments, verify the Java version
    Run 'java -version' or 'javac -version' from the command line to determine the installed Oracle JDK or JRE version.
    Affected if The installed version is Oracle JDK 1.8.0, JRE 1.8.0, or Oracle GraalVM 20.3.13 or 21.3.9.
  4. On Linux systems, check the WebKit package version
    On Fedora, run 'rpm -qa | grep webkit'. On Debian, run 'dpkg -l | grep webkit'. Compare the installed version against the affected distribution versions.
    Affected if The system runs Fedora 37, 38, or 39, or Debian 11.0 or 12.0 with unpatched WebKit.
  5. Verify web content processing exposure
    Determine whether the system or any application processes untrusted web content using WebKit. This includes browsing the web, rendering HTML emails, or loading web content in applications.
    Affected if Untrusted web content is processed through WebKit-based components.

A system is affected if it runs an unpatched version of Apple iOS/iPadOS before 17.0.1, macOS before 14.0, specific Oracle JDK/JRE/GraalVM versions, or Fedora/Debian with vulnerable WebKit packages, AND processes untrusted web content through WebKit.

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 14.0 / 17.0.1 or later
Fixed in 14.017.0.1
Interim mitigation

Apply available security updates: upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14 or later, or iOS 16.7 or later, depending on the affected platform.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) / iOS 17.0.1 / iPadOS 17.0.1

  1. Upgrade iOS/iPadOS devices to version 17.0.1 or later
  2. Upgrade macOS devices to version 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
  3. After upgrading, ensure WebKit is updated to the latest version available for your platform
Caveat Upgrading macOS to Sonoma may require hardware compatibility check as Sonoma has specific system requirements; iOS 17.0.1 requires compatible iPhone/iPad models

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

Fix this in Fedora Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2023-41993 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