Apple iOS up to 9.0 FontParser Font File memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Apple iOS up to 9.0 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component FontParser. This manipulation as part of Font File causes memory corruption. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2015-6990. There is no exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple iOS up to 9.0 (Smartphone Operating System). It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown part of the component FontParser. The manipulation as part of a Font File leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is 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. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The weakness was shared 10/21/2015 by John Villamil with Yahoo Pentest Team as HT205370 as confirmed advisory (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at support.apple.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2015-6990 since 09/16/2015. The exploitation appears to be difficult. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/19/2024). It is expected to see the exploit prices for this product increasing in the near future. The advisory points out:

Multiple memory corruption issues existed in the handling of font files. These issues were addressed through improved bounds checking.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 86654 (Mac OS X < 10.11.1 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. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 124182 (Apple Mac OS X Security Update 2015-007 Not Installed (APPLE-SA-2015-10-21-4)).

Upgrading to version 9.1 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (86654) and SecurityFocus (BID 77263†). The entries VDB-77709, VDB-78724, VDB-78725 and VDB-78727 are related to this item. Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Smartphone Operating System

Vendor

• Apple

Name

• iOS

Version

• 9.0

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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

Discussion