Security Resilience

CVE-2022-22674

Memory Safety in Apple Mac Os X 10.15 – 10.15.7

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
26 May 2022
Modified
23 October 2025
KEV Added
04 April 2022
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.011 66th percentile
Risk Priority 75 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2022-22674 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Apple Mac Os X. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 34% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-22674 and assigned CWE-125, affects the kernel on Apple macOS systems. The flaw permits disclosure of kernel memory contents due to insufficient input validation and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.5 reflecting local access requirements. It is resolved in macOS Monterey 12.3.1, Security Update 2022-004 Catalina, and macOS Big Sur 11.6.6.

A local user with a valid account on an affected macOS host can trigger the condition to read arbitrary kernel memory without user interaction or elevated privileges beyond standard local access. This information disclosure could expose sensitive kernel data structures that aid further attacks, though the vulnerability itself does not permit direct code execution or privilege escalation.

Apple security advisories HT213220, HT213255, and HT213256 confirm the issue is fixed through improved input validation in the listed macOS releases and direct administrators to install the updates to eliminate the exposure. The current EPSS score of 0.0022 indicates limited observed exploitation interest.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An out-of-bounds read issue existed that led to the disclosure of kernel memory. This was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.3.1, Security Update 2022-004 Catalina, macOS Big Sur 11.6.6. A local user may…

more

be able to read kernel memory.

CWE(s)
CWE-125
KEV Date Added
04 April 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-43809Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-32443Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-42886Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43366Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-65364Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-43757Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-44279Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-20620Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-44161Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2025-43284Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
mac os x
10.15.7 · 10.15 — 10.15.7
apple
macos
11.0 — 11.6.6 · 12.0.0 — 12.3.1

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References