Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-34241

Memory Safety in Apple Macos ≤ 11.7.9

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
22 June 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.014 69th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-34241 is a medium-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 31% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenPrinting CUPS is a standards-based, open source printing system for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Starting in version 2.0.0 and prior to version 2.4.6, CUPS logs data of free memory to the logging service AFTER the connection has been…

more

closed, when it should have logged the data right before. This is a use-after-free bug that impacts the entire cupsd process. The exact cause of this issue is the function `httpClose(con->http)` being called in `scheduler/client.c`. The problem is that httpClose always, provided its argument is not null, frees the pointer at the end of the call, only for cupsdLogClient to pass the pointer to httpGetHostname. This issue happens in function `cupsdAcceptClient` if LogLevel is warn or higher and in two scenarios: there is a double-lookup for the IP Address (HostNameLookups Double is set in `cupsd.conf`) which fails to resolve, or if CUPS is compiled with TCP wrappers and the connection is refused by rules from `/etc/hosts.allow` and `/etc/hosts.deny`. Version 2.4.6 has a patch for this issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2021-30858Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-4752Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-4351Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-6510Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-4572Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-4750Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-5997Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-2721Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-5855Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-3217Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

openprinting
cups
2.2.0 — 2.4.6
fedoraproject
fedora
37, 38
debian
debian linux
10.0
apple
macos
≤ 11.7.9 · 12.0.0 — 12.6.8 · 13.0 — 13.5

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.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

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

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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

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.

detects

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

References