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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 26 Mar 2026.
SafariWeb browser · Apple

CVE-2023-43000

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.5 / 15.8.7 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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
A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.5, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, Safari 16.6, iOS 15.8.7 and iPadOS 15.8.7. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to memory corruption.

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 use-after-free vulnerability in WebKit (Safari's rendering engine) allows memory corruption when processing maliciously crafted web content. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management, where freed memory is accessed after being deallocated, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate affected devices to the patched versions: macOS Ventura 13.5+, iOS/iPadOS 16.6+, iOS/iPadOS 15.8.7+, or Safari 16.6+. Deploy via MDM or notify end-users to apply system updates.

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
SafariWeb browser
Affected:< 16.6
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 15.8.7>= 16.0, < 16.6
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 15.8.7>= 16.0, < 16.6
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 13.5

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 your platform
    Determine whether you are running macOS, iOS, or iPadOS on the device. On macOS, go to Apple menu > About This Mac. On iOS/iPadOS, go to Settings > General > About.
    Affected if Any Apple device running the affected operating systems
  2. Check macOS version
    On macOS, run `sw_vers -productVersion` in Terminal or view About This Mac. Compare the version number to the affected range.
    Affected if macOS version is lower than 13.5
  3. Check Safari version on macOS
    On macOS, open Safari > About Safari or run `defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString` in Terminal.
    Affected if Safari version is lower than 16.6
  4. Check iOS or iPadOS version
    On iOS/iPadOS, go to Settings > General > About and note the version number. Compare against affected ranges.
    Affected if iOS/iPadOS version is lower than 15.8.7, OR between 16.0 and 16.6 (exclusive)
  5. Determine if WebKit content is processed
    WebKit is the rendering engine used by Safari and third-party browsers. If you use any browser or application that processes untrusted web content, the vulnerability may be triggered.
    Affected if You use Safari or any WebKit-based browser to visit untrusted web pages

You are affected if your macOS is below 13.5, or your Safari is below 16.6 on any macOS, or your iOS/iPadOS is below 15.8.7 or between 16.0 and 16.6, and you use WebKit-based browsers to view web content.

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 13.5 / 15.8.7 / 16.6 or later
Fixed in 13.515.8.716.6
Interim mitigation

Update affected devices to the patched versions: macOS Ventura 13.5+, iOS/iPadOS 16.6+, iOS/iPadOS 15.8.7+, or Safari 16.6+. Deploy via MDM or notify end-users to apply system updates.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Ventura 13.5, iOS 16.6, iPadOS 16.6, Safari 16.6, iOS 15.8.7, iPadOS 15.8.7

  1. Identify the currently installed Apple product (Safari, iOS, iPadOS, or macOS) on the affected device
  2. For macOS: Upgrade to macOS Ventura 13.5 or later via System Settings > Software Update
  3. For iOS: Upgrade to iOS 16.6 or later (or iOS 15.8.7 for devices not supporting iOS 16) via Settings > General > Software Update
  4. For iPadOS: Upgrade to iPadOS 16.6 or later (or iPadOS 15.8.7 for devices not supporting iPadOS 16) via Settings > General > Software Update
  5. For Safari: Upgrade Safari by upgrading the underlying operating system (macOS 13.5+, iOS 16.6+, or iPadOS 16.6+)

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

Fix this in Safari 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
Get it fixed fast

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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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-2023-43000 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