CVE-2017-6989 in watchOS
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. iOS before 10.3.2 is affected. tvOS before 10.2.1 is affected. watchOS before 3.2.2 is affected. The issue involves the "AVEVideoEncoder" component. It allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted app.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/28/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-6989 represents a critical security flaw within Apple's multimedia processing framework affecting multiple operating systems including iOS, tvOS, and watchOS. This vulnerability resides within the AVEVideoEncoder component which is responsible for video encoding operations within Apple's ecosystem. The flaw manifests as a memory corruption issue that can be exploited by malicious applications to achieve privilege escalation or system instability. The affected versions demonstrate the vulnerability through their inability to properly validate input parameters during video encoding processes, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory structures and execute unauthorized code within privileged system contexts.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which addresses heap-based buffer overflow scenarios. These classifications indicate that the flaw involves improper handling of memory allocation and deallocation during video processing operations. The AVEVideoEncoder component appears to fail in implementing proper bounds checking when processing crafted video data, leading to memory corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution. Attackers can exploit this by developing malicious applications that utilize specific video encoding parameters designed to trigger the memory corruption within the privileged context of the video encoder.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-6989 extends beyond simple privilege escalation to include potential denial of service conditions that could render affected devices unstable or unusable. Systems running vulnerable versions of iOS, tvOS, and watchOS become susceptible to attacks that can compromise the integrity of the device's operating environment. The vulnerability's exploitation can result in complete system compromise, allowing attackers to bypass security restrictions and gain access to sensitive user data, system resources, and potentially other connected devices. This represents a significant risk within the Apple ecosystem where users expect robust security boundaries between applications and system processes.
From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to several ATT&CK techniques including privilege escalation through malicious code execution and system compromise via memory corruption attacks. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that the flaw exists within a core system component that handles multimedia processing, which is frequently utilized by both legitimate applications and potential attackers. Organizations and individual users should implement immediate mitigation strategies including prompt system updates to the patched versions, application whitelisting to prevent execution of untrusted video processing code, and network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing layered security approaches to protect against sophisticated attacks targeting system-level components that can provide attackers with elevated privileges and persistent access to affected devices.