CVE-2019-8506
Published: 18 December 2019
Summary
CVE-2019-8506 is a high-severity Type Confusion (CWE-843) vulnerability in Apple Icloud. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 7.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
A type confusion vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-8506 and assigned CWE-843, was present in the WebKit component used for processing web content. It affected multiple Apple platforms and applications, specifically iOS prior to 12.2, tvOS prior to 12.2, watchOS prior to 5.2, Safari prior to 12.1, iTunes for Windows prior to 12.9.4, and iCloud for Windows prior to 7.11. The flaw was resolved through improved memory handling in those releases.
An attacker can exploit the issue by serving maliciously crafted web content to a victim. With network access and no privileges required, successful exploitation leads to arbitrary code execution on the target system, carrying high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability as reflected in its CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8.
Apple security advisories corresponding to the listed support URLs detail the affected builds and direct users to apply the listed updates, which contain the memory-handling fixes that prevent the type confusion from being triggered during web content processing.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2019-17896
Vulnerability details
A type confusion issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.2, tvOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2, Safari 12.1, iTunes 12.9.4 for Windows, iCloud for Windows 7.11. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary…
more
code execution.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 04 May 2022
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely application of security-relevant patches that remediate the WebKit type-confusion flaw before malicious web content can trigger arbitrary code execution.
Enforces memory-protection mechanisms that prevent the exact class of type-confusion and improper memory handling exploited by CVE-2019-8506.
Restricts or sandbox-executes mobile code (JavaScript, etc.) delivered via web content, limiting the attack surface that leads to the code-execution payload.