CVE-2018-4265 in Safari
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple memory corruption issues were addressed with improved memory handling. This issue affected versions prior to iOS 11.4.1, tvOS 11.4.1, Safari 11.1.2, iTunes 12.8 for Windows, iCloud for Windows 7.6.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/01/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-4265 represents a series of memory corruption issues that plagued multiple Apple operating systems and applications prior to specific security updates. This flaw falls under the category of memory safety vulnerabilities, where improper memory handling can lead to unpredictable behavior and potential exploitation by malicious actors. The affected software versions include iOS 11.4.1 and earlier, tvOS 11.4.1 and earlier, Safari 11.1.2 and earlier, iTunes 12.8 for Windows, and iCloud for Windows 7.6 and earlier versions. These vulnerabilities demonstrate the critical nature of memory management in modern operating systems where buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, or other memory corruption patterns can provide attackers with opportunities to execute arbitrary code or cause system instability.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate memory handling mechanisms within Apple's software stack, which could be exploited to manipulate memory contents or cause memory corruption during normal operation. Memory corruption vulnerabilities typically arise when software fails to properly validate memory access patterns or when it does not correctly manage memory allocation and deallocation processes. This particular flaw likely involved scenarios where input data was not properly bounds-checked before being written to memory buffers, or where memory was accessed after it had been freed, creating opportunities for attackers to inject malicious code or manipulate program execution flow. Such issues are particularly dangerous because they can be leveraged to bypass security mechanisms, escalate privileges, or gain unauthorized access to system resources.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-4265 extends across multiple attack surfaces given the wide range of affected platforms and applications. Users of iOS and tvOS devices were at risk of exploitation through various attack vectors including malicious web content, email attachments, or compromised applications that could trigger the memory corruption conditions. The inclusion of Safari 11.1.2 in the affected list indicates web-based exploitation potential, while the iTunes and iCloud for Windows components suggest that desktop users were also vulnerable to attacks targeting their local systems. These vulnerabilities could potentially enable attackers to execute code with the privileges of the affected application, leading to complete system compromise or data exfiltration. The impact is particularly concerning because these applications often handle sensitive user data and have broad access to system resources.
Apple's response to this vulnerability involved releasing security updates that improved memory handling mechanisms throughout the affected software ecosystem. The remediation efforts focused on strengthening memory management practices, implementing better bounds checking, and ensuring proper memory deallocation procedures. Organizations should prioritize applying these security patches immediately to protect their systems from potential exploitation. The vulnerability aligns with common attack patterns documented in the ATT&CK framework under the memory corruption category, where adversaries leverage improper memory handling to achieve their objectives. From a CWE perspective, this vulnerability likely maps to several categories including CWE-121, CWE-122, and CWE-125, which represent stack-based buffer overflows, heap-based buffer overflows, and out-of-bounds read/write conditions respectively. These memory safety issues underscore the importance of proper memory management practices and the necessity of implementing robust security controls throughout the software development lifecycle to prevent such vulnerabilities from reaching production environments.