CVE-2024-23237 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 09/17/2024
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15. An app may be able to cause a denial-of-service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/07/2025
This vulnerability represents a memory handling issue that affects macOS Sequoia 15 systems, where improper memory management could enable an application to trigger a denial-of-service condition. The flaw stems from inadequate memory allocation and deallocation mechanisms within the operating system's core memory management subsystem. When an application presents malformed or malicious memory requests, the system's memory handling routines may fail to properly process these inputs, leading to system instability or complete service interruption. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of memory corruption issues that can be exploited to disrupt normal system operations without necessarily gaining unauthorized access to system resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the operating system's memory manager failing to properly validate or sanitize memory operations initiated by user applications. When applications submit memory requests that exceed normal boundaries or contain malformed data structures, the memory handling code path may encounter unexpected conditions that cause the system to crash or become unresponsive. This behavior aligns with common memory safety issues categorized under CWE-122, which deals with insufficient synchronization in memory management operations. The vulnerability essentially creates a condition where legitimate system resources become unavailable due to improper memory handling rather than malicious intent to compromise security.
From an operational perspective, this denial-of-service vulnerability presents significant risk to system availability and user productivity. Applications that exploit this weakness can cause unexpected system crashes, application hangs, or complete system lockups that require manual intervention to resolve. The impact extends beyond individual applications to potentially affect system-wide stability, as memory management issues can cascade through the operating system's core services. Attackers could potentially leverage this vulnerability to repeatedly disrupt system operations, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where system uptime is critical. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks, though in this case the attack vector is through local application memory management rather than network-based disruption.
The fix implemented in macOS Sequoia 15 addresses this issue through enhanced memory handling protocols and improved input validation mechanisms. The update strengthens the memory manager's ability to detect and properly handle malformed memory requests, preventing the conditions that previously led to denial-of-service scenarios. System administrators should prioritize deployment of this update across all affected macOS systems to mitigate the risk of exploitation. The remediation approach demonstrates the importance of proper memory management practices in operating system security, emphasizing the need for robust validation and error handling in core system components. Organizations should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual memory consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while maintaining regular patch management procedures to address similar vulnerabilities in the future.