SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2023-41974

Apple iOS and iPadOS Use-After-Free Vulnerability

KEVHIGH 7.8EPSS 1.40%

Does this matter?

Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 26 March 2026). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.

Description

A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, iOS 15.8.7 and iPadOS 15.8.7. An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
1.40% probability · 71th percentile
CISA KEV
Listed 5 March 2026 · due 26 March 2026
Weakness
CWE-416
Affected
apple/ipados · apple/iphone os
Source
product-security@apple.com

CISA notes

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213938 ; https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213938 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41974

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.