Security Resilience

CVE-2023-28205

Memory Safety in Apple Ipados ≤ 15.7.5

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
10 April 2023
Modified
23 October 2025
KEV Added
10 April 2023
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
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:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.27 98th percentile
Risk Priority 90 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-2023-28205 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked in the top 2% 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.

A use-after-free vulnerability in Apple's WebKit engine, tracked as CVE-2023-28205, affects Safari, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS Ventura. The flaw stems from improper memory management when processing web content and was corrected in Safari 16.4.1, iOS 15.7.5 / iPadOS 15.7.5, iOS 16.4.1 / iPadOS 16.4.1, and macOS Ventura 13.3.1. It carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8 and is also identified under CWE-416.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the issue by serving maliciously crafted web content that a victim visits, resulting in arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the browser process. No user privileges are required on the target system, though user interaction is needed to load the content. Apple has stated that the vulnerability may have been actively exploited in the wild at the time of disclosure.

Official Apple advisories direct users to install the listed security updates as the primary mitigation. The associated EPSS score rose sharply from a low baseline to a peak of 0.0256 on 22 April 2023 shortly after publication before receding, indicating a transient but measurable increase in observed exploitation interest following public disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in Safari 16.4.1, iOS 15.7.5 and iPadOS 15.7.5, iOS 16.4.1 and iPadOS 16.4.1, macOS Ventura 13.3.1. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary…

more

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

CWE(s)
CWE-416
KEV Date Added
10 April 2023

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
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 →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-43000Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2022-22620Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2021-30661Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2025-43529Same product: Apple Ipadosboth on KEV
CVE-2026-43720Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43734Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43726Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43731Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43704Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43742Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 16.4.1
apple
ipados
≤ 15.7.5 · 16.0 — 16.4.1
apple
iphone os
≤ 15.7.5 · 16.0 — 16.4.1
apple
macos
≤ 13.3.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

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.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-416

Use-after-free exploits that achieve arbitrary code execution are blocked or significantly hardened by non-executable pages and ASLR.

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 identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

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.5.30 ICT readiness for business continuity partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416

References