Apple watchOS up to 8.6 AppleAVD buffer overflow

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.3	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Apple watchOS up to 8.6. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component AppleAVD. The manipulation leads to buffer overflow. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-32788. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Furthermore, there is an exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Apple watchOS up to 8.6 (Smartwatch Operating System). This issue affects an unknown functionality of the component AppleAVD. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A buffer overflow was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6, iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, macOS Monterey 12.5. A remote user may be able to cause kernel code execution.

The weakness was shared 07/20/2022 by Natalie Silvanovich as HT213340 as confirmed advisory (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at support.apple.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-32788. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 05/28/2025). The advisory points out:

A remote user may be able to cause kernel code execution

The exploit is available at packetstormsecurity.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $5k-$25k.

Upgrading to version 8.7 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability. The advisory contains the following remark:

A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Smartwatch Operating System

Vendor

Apple

Name

watchOS

Version

License

commercial

Website

Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.3

VulDB Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Temp Score: 8.8
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 9.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Buffer overflow
CWE: CWE-120 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: watchOS 8.7

Timelineinfo

06/09/2022 🔍
07/20/2022 +41 days 🔍
07/20/2022 +0 days 🔍
07/21/2022 +1 days 🔍
05/28/2025 +1042 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: apple.com

Advisory: HT213340
Researcher: Natalie Silvanovich
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2022-32788 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2022-32788
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-204779
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 07/21/2022 22:17
Updated: 05/28/2025 22:17
Changes: 07/21/2022 22:17 (19), 07/21/2022 22:20 (27), 08/16/2022 14:08 (1), 06/22/2024 16:27 (23), 05/28/2025 22:17 (12)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103