CVE-2020-9892 in watchOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/23/2020
Multiple memory corruption issues were addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6, macOS Catalina 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, watchOS 6.2.8. A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/03/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-9892 represents a critical memory corruption issue that affects multiple Apple operating systems including iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, macOS Catalina 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, and watchOS 6.2.8. This flaw stems from inadequate state management within the affected systems, creating potential pathways for malicious actors to exploit memory handling mechanisms. The vulnerability classification aligns with CWE-122, which addresses buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-125, which covers out-of-bounds read errors that can lead to memory corruption. These memory management deficiencies create opportunities for attackers to manipulate system memory in ways that could compromise the integrity and confidentiality of affected devices.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a malicious application that can leverage the memory corruption flaws to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code with system-level permissions. This privilege escalation capability represents a significant security risk as it allows attackers to bypass normal access controls and gain unauthorized administrative access to affected systems. The memory corruption issues likely stem from improper handling of memory allocation and deallocation processes, potentially involving use-after-free conditions or heap-based buffer overflows that can be triggered through malformed input or unexpected application states. Attackers can craft malicious applications that exploit these conditions to manipulate memory contents, potentially redirecting execution flow to malicious code payloads.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-9892 extends beyond individual device compromise to potentially enable widespread exploitation across affected platforms. Mobile devices running iOS and iPadOS, desktop systems using macOS, and embedded systems with tvOS and watchOS are all vulnerable to this attack vector. The vulnerability's presence in multiple operating system variants suggests a fundamental flaw in the underlying memory management frameworks that Apple uses across its ecosystem. This cross-platform nature increases the attack surface and makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged against various Apple products simultaneously. The ability to execute arbitrary code with system privileges creates potential for complete system compromise, data exfiltration, and persistent backdoor installation.
Security professionals should prioritize immediate deployment of the vendor-provided patches for iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, macOS Catalina 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, and watchOS 6.2.8 to remediate this vulnerability. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring for suspicious application behavior and unauthorized privilege escalation attempts on affected systems. The mitigation strategy should include regular security updates, application whitelisting policies, and network segmentation to limit potential lateral movement if exploitation occurs. Additionally, security teams should consider implementing endpoint detection and response solutions that can identify anomalous memory access patterns or privilege escalation attempts that might indicate exploitation of this vulnerability. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper state management in operating system design and the potential consequences when memory handling mechanisms fail to properly validate or sanitize system resources.