Apple watchOS up to 9.2 Kernel memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.3	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Apple watchOS up to 9.2. Affected is an unknown function of the component Kernel. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-23500. Local access is required to approach this attack. There is no exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple watchOS up to 9.2 (Smartwatch Operating System). It has been rated as problematic. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component Kernel. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.2, iOS 16.3 and iPadOS 16.3, iOS 15.7.3 and iPadOS 15.7.3, tvOS 16.3, watchOS 9.3. An app may be able to leak sensitive kernel state.

The weakness was released 01/23/2023 by Pan ZhenPeng as HT213599 as confirmed advisory (Website). The advisory is shared at support.apple.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-23500. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The advisory points out:

An app may be able to leak sensitive kernel state

Upgrading to version 9.3 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability. The advisory contains the following remark:

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

Smartwatch Operating System

Vendor

Apple

Name

watchOS

Version

License

commercial

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.3

VulDB Base Score: 3.3
VulDB Temp Score: 3.2
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock
unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock
unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock
Today	unlock	unlock	unlock	unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: watchOS 9.3

Timelineinfo

01/12/2023 🔍
01/23/2023 +11 days 🔍
01/23/2023 +0 days 🔍
01/24/2023 +1 days 🔍
03/11/2025 +777 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: apple.com

Advisory: HT213599
Researcher: Pan ZhenPeng
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-23500 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-23500
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-219221

Entryinfo

Created: 01/24/2023 11:06
Updated: 03/11/2025 16:49
Changes: 01/24/2023 11:06 (19), 01/24/2023 11:09 (27), 02/18/2023 16:54 (1), 03/11/2025 16:49 (27)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:C3A:103