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Watchos CVE-2023-40414

CRITICAL
Use After Free (CWE-416)
2024-01-10 product-security@apple.com
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.15%.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity.
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026

A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
v1 Mar 28, 2026 - 19:34 CVSS 9.8

UAF RCE in Apple WebKit.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Use smart pointers or garbage-collected languages. Set pointers to NULL after freeing. Enable memory sanitizers.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Use After Free (CWE-416), which allows attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application. A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in watchOS 10, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, macOS Sonoma 14, Safari 17. Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Affected products include: Apple Safari, Apple Ipados, Apple Iphone Os, Apple Macos, Apple Tvos.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in watchOS 10, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, macOS Sonoma 14, Safari 17. Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Organizations using A use-after-free face critical risk from CVE-2023-40414, a use-after-free vulnerability rated CVSS 9.8. Successful exploitation could critically impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems. Organizations should apply vendor updates immediately when available and implement compensating controls in the interim.

Business Impact: Severe
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible: (1) Enable ASLR and DEP where available; (2) Implement network segmentation; (3) Monitor for exploitation indicators.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 64% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Out-of-Cycle
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact
Very High

Priority Score

49
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +49
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:apple:safari:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:tvos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:watchos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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