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Mallory
Critical

Arbitrary Code Execution in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS

IdentifiersCVE-2023-40400CWE-20

CVE-2023-40400 is an Apple vulnerability affecting iPhone 8 and later, supported iPad models, and corresponding Apple platforms fixed in tvOS 17, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma 14. Apple states that a remote user may cause unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution, and that the issue was addressed with improved checks. The available advisory text does not identify the specific component or function involved, but indicates the flaw is reachable remotely and can be triggered through crafted input or content processed by the affected software.

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For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

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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 may allow a remote attacker to crash the targeted application or achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the vulnerable app or component. At minimum this results in denial of service through unexpected app termination; in the more severe case it enables execution of attacker-controlled code, which could be used for further compromise depending on the privileges of the affected process.

Mitigation

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

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure to untrusted remote content and services that may reach the vulnerable component, since the issue is described as remotely triggerable. Limit interaction with untrusted data sources where operationally feasible until the vendor update can be applied. No vendor-specific workaround beyond updating is provided in the supplied content.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply Apple's security updates that fix CVE-2023-40400: tvOS 17, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma 14. Standard remediation is to upgrade affected devices and systems to the latest vendor-supported release containing Apple's improved checks for this issue.
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
AppleTvosoperating_system
AppleWatchosoperating_system

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

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.
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

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.