CVE-2024-23227 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 03/08/2024
This issue was addressed with improved redaction of sensitive information. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.7.4, macOS Sonoma 14.4, macOS Ventura 13.6.5. An app may be able to read sensitive location information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/03/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical information disclosure flaw in apple's operating systems that allowed malicious applications to potentially access sensitive location data through inadequate redaction mechanisms. The issue specifically affected macOS versions prior to the mentioned patches, where proper sanitization of location information was not adequately implemented during system operations. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation and removal of location metadata that should have been stripped from system responses or logs before being made available to applications. This type of flaw falls under the broader category of information exposure vulnerabilities that can compromise user privacy and system security.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves improper handling of location data within system APIs and kernel components that process location-based services. When applications interact with location services or request location information from system components, sensitive metadata such as precise coordinates, timestamps, or location history might not have been properly redacted from the response data. This inadequate sanitization creates a pathway for unauthorized applications to access location information that should remain protected. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which addresses improper information exposure, and represents a failure in proper access control and data sanitization mechanisms. Attackers could exploit this weakness by crafting malicious applications that leverage legitimate system interfaces to extract location data that should be restricted to authorized system components.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privacy concerns to encompass potential security risks for users who rely on location-based services. Users may experience unauthorized tracking of their movements, location history exposure, or compromise of location-based services that depend on accurate privacy controls. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of macOS where location information should be tightly controlled and only accessible to authorized applications with proper user consent. This issue particularly impacts users who frequently use location-based services, mobile devices, or applications that rely on precise location data. The vulnerability could enable adversaries to build comprehensive location profiles of users, potentially leading to stalking, surveillance, or targeted attacks based on location patterns and behaviors.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate deployment of the security updates provided by apple for the affected macOS versions. System administrators should ensure all endpoints are updated to macOS Monterey 12.7.4, macOS Sonoma 14.4, or macOS Ventura 13.6.5 to address the redaction issues. Organizations should implement monitoring for unauthorized location data access patterns and review application permissions to ensure only legitimate applications have access to location services. The fix addresses the underlying redaction mechanisms by implementing more robust data sanitization processes that properly strip location metadata from system responses. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring controls for location-based API calls and establish baseline behaviors for normal location data access patterns to detect potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and output sanitization in system security, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1070.004 for indicator removal and T1566.002 for spearphishing attachments that could leverage such information disclosure vulnerabilities.