Medium

Sensitive Location Information Disclosure in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS

IdentifiersCVE-2023-32416CWE-200

CVE-2023-32416 is an Apple vulnerability described as a logic issue that could allow an application to read sensitive location information. Apple states the issue was addressed with improved restrictions. The vulnerability affects supported Apple platforms prior to macOS Monterey 12.6.8, iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, macOS Ventura 13.5, and watchOS 9.6. Based on the advisory text, the flaw is a restriction or access-control failure in logic governing access to location-related data, resulting in unintended disclosure of sensitive location information to an app.

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ANALYST BRIEF

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.

Successful exploitation allows an app to access sensitive location information that it should not be able to read. The primary impact is privacy compromise and unauthorized disclosure of user location data. The provided content does not indicate code execution, privilege escalation, or persistence as a direct consequence of this specific vulnerability.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by limiting installation and execution of untrusted or unnecessary applications, reviewing and restricting app permissions where possible, and using platform controls that constrain app access to sensitive data. Because the issue is triggered by a local app reading location information, minimizing the presence of untrusted apps is the most relevant interim mitigation. Specific vendor-provided mitigations beyond patching are not available in the provided content.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the vendor fixes provided by Apple. The issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.8, iOS 15.7.8, iPadOS 15.7.8, iOS 16.6, iPadOS 16.6, macOS Ventura 13.5, and watchOS 9.6. Systems running affected earlier versions should be updated to the appropriate patched release.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

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.

VendorProductType

AppleIpadosoperating_system

AppleIphone Osoperating_system

AppleMacosoperating_system

AppleWatchosoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

2 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

2 SOURCESView more in app

apple supportNews

Jan 25, 2026

About the security content of iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 - Apple Support

A logic flaw that could allow an app to read sensitive location information; fixed by improved restrictions.

apple supportNews

Jan 19, 2026

Informazioni sui contenuti di sicurezza di iOS 16.6 e iPadOS 16.6 - Supporto Apple (IT)

Vulnerabilità di gestione memoria durante l'elaborazione immagini che può causare denial of service (crash).

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity