Apple macOS up to 10.14.1 Kernel memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Apple macOS up to 10.14.1. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component Kernel. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2018-4461. Local access is required to approach this attack. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple macOS up to 10.14.1 (Operating System) and classified as critical. This issue affects an unknown code of the component Kernel. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue affected versions prior to iOS 12.1.1, macOS Mojave 10.14.2, tvOS 12.1.1, watchOS 5.1.2.

The bug was discovered 12/05/2018. The weakness was disclosed 12/05/2018 by Ian Beer with Google Project Zero as HT209341 as confirmed advisory (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at support.apple.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2018-4461 since 01/02/2018. Attacking locally is a requirement. A simple authentication is needed for exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The advisory points out:

A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 119841 (macOS 10.14.x < 10.14.2 Multiple Vulnerabilities), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family MacOS X Local Security Checks and running in the context c. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 371369 (Apple macOS Mojave 10.14.2, Security Update 2018-003 High Sierra, Security Update 2018-006 Sierra Not Installed(HT209341)).

Upgrading to version 10.14.2 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (119841). The entries VDB-126171, VDB-127563, VDB-127564 and VDB-127567 are pretty similar. Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Apple

Name

• macOS

Version

• 10.14.0
• 10.14.1

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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