CVE-2017-7163 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS before 10.13.2 is affected. The issue involves the "Intel Graphics Driver" 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 • 08/18/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-7163 represents a critical security flaw within Apple's Intel Graphics Driver component affecting macOS versions prior to 10.13.2. This issue stems from insufficient input validation and memory management within the graphics driver subsystem, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's graphics processing capabilities. The vulnerability specifically manifests in the kernel-level graphics driver code where improper handling of crafted graphical commands or memory allocations can lead to unpredictable system behavior.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a carefully crafted application that sends malformed graphics commands to the Intel Graphics Driver. This flaw allows attackers to transition from user-space execution to kernel-space privileges, effectively bypassing standard security boundaries that normally protect the operating system's core components. The memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability enables attackers to manipulate kernel memory structures, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with the highest system privileges. This type of vulnerability is classified under CWE-125 as "Out-of-bounds Read" and CWE-787 as "Out-of-bounds Write" in the Common Weakness Enumeration catalog, reflecting the fundamental memory management issues within the graphics driver implementation.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to macOS systems running affected versions, as it provides attackers with a means to escalate privileges without requiring user interaction or specific exploitation conditions. The ability to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context means that an attacker could potentially install malware, modify system files, access sensitive data, or establish persistent backdoors within the affected systems. The denial of service component of this vulnerability could also be leveraged to disrupt system operations, causing unexpected crashes or system instability that would affect normal business operations and user productivity.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2017-7163 primarily involves updating to macOS 10.13.2 or later versions where Apple has implemented proper memory bounds checking and input validation within the Intel Graphics Driver component. System administrators should prioritize this update across all affected macOS systems and implement additional monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies to prevent untrusted applications from executing graphics-intensive operations that could trigger the vulnerability. According to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability would map to privilege escalation techniques under the T1068 category, specifically targeting kernel-level privilege escalation methods that leverage driver vulnerabilities to gain administrative control over affected systems.
Security researchers have noted that this vulnerability represents a classic example of how graphics driver components can serve as attack vectors due to their privileged execution context and complex memory management requirements. The exploitation of such vulnerabilities often requires sophisticated knowledge of both the graphics driver architecture and the underlying operating system kernel interfaces, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where attackers may have access to sophisticated exploitation toolkits. The remediation process should include not only the software update but also comprehensive security assessments to verify that no exploitation attempts have occurred and that the system remains secure against related vulnerabilities in the graphics driver stack.