Security Resilience

CVE-2023-40396

Command Injection in Apple Ipados ≤ 17.0

Published
29 July 2024
Modified
19 March 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
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:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0022 11th percentile
Risk Priority 56 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-2023-40396 is a high-severity Command Injection (CWE-77) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 11th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma 14, watchOS 10, tvOS 17. An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-20671Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-27818Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20675Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-27942Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-41071Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-42898Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-38596Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-23499Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-23212Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32432Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 17.0
apple
iphone os
≤ 17.0
apple
macos
≤ 14.0
apple
tvos
≤ 17.0
apple
watchos
≤ 10.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover command-construction flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops construction of commands from untrusted data containing special elements.

Secure engineering principles include proper neutralization and safe command construction practices.

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.

blocks

A.8.25 mandates secure SDLC practices including secure coding guidelines, security requirements, checkpoints, testing (scans/penetration), and developer training that reduce command injection defects, but leaves a minority slice (e.g. incomplete implementation of those practices, outsourced development without full assurance, or post-SDLC changes) where the weakness can still arise and be exploitable.

blocks

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection flaws including command injection.

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (e.g. distrust external input, secure session control, data validation/sanitization, least privilege) and design reviews that can stop command injection from being introduced, but this is only a minority slice of CWE-77 because the weakness can still arise in code that bypasses those principles, in non-reviewed components, or in runtime injection vectors the architecture review does not reach.

prevents

Secure coding standards require proper escaping and parameterization of commands, directly eliminating CWE-77.

finds

Security testing in development catches command-injection vulnerabilities before release.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-77, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References