CVE-2022-26763
Published: 26 May 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-26763 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Mac Os X. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 4.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2022-26763 is an out-of-bounds access vulnerability resulting from insufficient bounds checking that affects multiple Apple platforms. The flaw is present in versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS Big Sur, macOS Monterey, tvOS, and watchOS prior to the updates that introduced improved validation.
A malicious application running on an affected device can exploit the issue to achieve arbitrary code execution with system privileges. The CVSS 7.8 vector indicates local attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, and required user interaction, with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Apple security advisories for the listed platforms state that the vulnerability is resolved by installing tvOS 15.5, iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5, Security Update 2022-004 Catalina, watchOS 8.6, macOS Big Sur 11.6.6, or macOS Monterey 12.4. The EPSS score has remained flat at its peak value of 0.1948 with no material rise after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-31313
Vulnerability details
An out-of-bounds access issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in tvOS 15.5, iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5, Security Update 2022-004 Catalina, watchOS 8.6, macOS Big Sur 11.6.6, macOS Monterey 12.4. A malicious application may be…
more
able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.
Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.
Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.
Detects exploitation attempts that produce memory corruption, crashes, or anomalous behavior.