Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-28204

Memory Safety in Apple Ipados ≤ 15.7.6

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
23 June 2023
Modified
23 October 2025
KEV Added
22 May 2023
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.14 96th percentile
Risk Priority 76 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-28204 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 4% 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-2023-28204 and assigned CWE-125, affects Apple's web content processing components in Safari and multiple operating systems. The flaw was addressed through improved input validation and impacts watchOS before 9.5, tvOS before 16.5, macOS Ventura before 13.4, iOS and iPadOS before 15.7.6 or 16.5, and Safari before 16.5. With a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.5, the issue resides in network-accessible code that handles untrusted web content.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the vulnerability by causing a victim to process malicious web content, resulting in disclosure of sensitive information from the affected device. Exploitation requires user interaction such as visiting a crafted web page but needs no privileges on the target system.

Apple security advisories for the fixed releases (HT213757, HT213758, HT213761, and HT213762) recommend immediate installation of the listed updates. The vendor states it is aware of reports indicating the issue may have been actively exploited in the wild. The current EPSS score remains low at 0.0008 with no indicated rise after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in watchOS 9.5, tvOS 16.5, macOS Ventura 13.4, iOS 15.7.6 and iPadOS 15.7.6, Safari 16.5, iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5. Processing web content may disclose sensitive information.…

more

Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
22 May 2023

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-42916Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2023-32439Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2023-32373Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2023-37450Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2023-32402Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2021-30661Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2024-40779Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-40780Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-24162Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-64719Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 16.5
apple
ipados
≤ 15.7.6 · 16.0 — 16.5
apple
iphone os
≤ 15.7.6 · 16.0 — 16.5
apple
macos
13.0 — 13.4
apple
tvos
≤ 16.5
apple
watchos
≤ 9.5
webkitgtk
webkitgtk\+
≤ 2.42.3

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

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

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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

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.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References