Root Privilege Escalation via Path Handling Issue in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS
CVE-2023-38565 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Apple platforms caused by improper path handling. Apple states that the issue was addressed with improved validation and that exploitation may allow an app to gain root privileges. The vulnerability affects supported Apple operating systems prior to macOS Monterey 12.6.8, macOS Big Sur 11.7.9, macOS Ventura 13.5, iOS 16.6, iPadOS 16.6, and watchOS 9.6. Based on Apple’s description, the flaw involves insufficient validation of filesystem path handling in a privileged context, enabling a locally executing app to abuse path resolution behavior and obtain elevated privileges up to root.
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
2 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A path handling/validation issue that could allow an app to gain root privileges.
Vulnerabilità logica che può consentire a un'app di causare denial of service; corretta con controlli migliori.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.