The critical security vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-42852 has been found to affect various Apple products, including iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Safari, and tvOS. This vulnerability, categorized as a logic issue, can potentially lead to arbitrary code execution when processing web content. Apple has addressed this problem with the release of the following updates:

The code snippet below illustrates the original vulnerability pre-patch

def process_web_content(content):
    # logic for handling different content types
    if content.type == 'text':
        # process text
        process_text(content)
    elif content.type == 'image':
        # process image
        process_image(content)
    else:
        # potentially vulnerable code block for other content types
        arbitrary_code_execution(content)  # Vulnerability (CVE-2023-42852)

def arbitrary_code_execution(content):
    # vulnerable function call that allows arbitrary code execution
    eval(content.data)  # Warning: insecure use of 'eval' function

To better understand the nature of the vulnerability and the implications it holds, please refer to the following original references:

1. Apple's Official Security Advisory
2. CVE Details - CVE-2023-42852
3. National Vulnerability Database (NVD) - CVE-2023-42852

Exploit details

Upon visiting a malicious website or viewing infected web content, arbitrary code execution can be triggered by an attacker. The attacker would only need to send data or a script that matches the unsupported content type to exploit the vulnerability successfully. This happens because of improper checking and handling of unknown content types in the web content processing function, as seen in the code snippet above.

Apple's patch for this vulnerability includes improved checks for incoming content, such as illustrated in the modified code snippet below:

def process_web_content(content):
    # logic for handling different content types
    if content.type == 'text':
        # process text
        process_text(content)
    elif content.type == 'image':
        # process image
        process_image(content)
    else:
        # improved checks for other content types
        raise ValueError("Unsupported content type: {}".format(content.type))

def arbitrary_code_execution(content):
    # removed insecure use of 'eval' function
    pass

Since Apple has released patches for this logic issue in various versions of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Safari, and tvOS, it is crucial to ensure that your devices and software are updated to the latest versions to prevent possible attacks exploiting CVE-2023-42852. Stay vigilant, and always keep your systems up to date.

Timeline

Published on: 10/25/2023 19:15:10 UTC
Last modified on: 11/17/2023 13:15:08 UTC