VDB-228260 · CVE-2023-23540 · EUVD-2023-27640

Apple macOS up to 11.7.4/12.6.3 Apple Neural Engine memory corruption

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.
7.6	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple macOS up to 11.7.4/12.6.3 and classified as critical. Affected is an unknown function of the component Apple Neural Engine. Such manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-23540. The attack can only be performed from a local environment. No exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Apple macOS up to 11.7.4/12.6.3 (Operating System). Affected by this issue is an unknown code of the component Apple Neural Engine. 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. CVE summarizes:

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4. An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

The weakness was published 05/09/2023. The advisory is shared for download at support.apple.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-23540 since 01/12/2023. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/13/2025). It is expected to see the exploit prices for this product increasing in the near future.

Upgrading to version 11.7.5 or 12.6.4 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2023-27640). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Apple

Name

macOS

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: 7.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.6

VulDB Base Score: 7.8
VulDB Temp Score: 7.5
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
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: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

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: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: macOS 11.7.5/12.6.4

Timelineinfo

01/12/2023 🔍
05/09/2023 +116 days 🔍
05/09/2023 +0 days 🔍
10/13/2025 +888 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: apple.com

Advisory: support.apple.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-23540 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-23540
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-228260
EUVD: 🔍
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20180712

Entryinfo

Created: 05/09/2023 07:26
Updated: 10/13/2025 05:43
Changes: 05/09/2023 07:26 (42), 05/31/2023 09:39 (10), 10/13/2025 05:43 (16)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103