Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-40449

Memory Safety in Apple Macos 12.0.0 – 12.7.1

Published
25 October 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0036 29th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-40449 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 29th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1, macOS Monterey 12.7.1, iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2, macOS Ventura 13.6.1, macOS Sonoma 14.1. An app may be able to cause a…

more

denial-of-service.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-28941Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-40416Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-46301Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-46300Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-46305Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43733Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-42841Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20605Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-46302Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20621Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 16.7.2 · 17.0 — 17.1
apple
iphone os
≤ 16.7.2 · 17.0 — 17.1
apple
macos
12.0.0 — 12.7.1 · 13.0 — 13.6.1 · 14.0 — 14.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2

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-119

Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.

addresses: CWE-119

Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.

addresses: CWE-119

Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.

addresses: CWE-119

Detects exploitation attempts that produce memory corruption, crashes, or anomalous behavior.

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 (bounds checking, safe APIs, reviews) directly prevent this class of flaw.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary 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.

detects

Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

References