CVE-2023-41992
Apple Ipados ≤ 16.7
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-41992 is a high-severity Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (CWE-754) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5% 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.
CVE-2023-41992 is an improper-check vulnerability that permits local privilege escalation on Apple platforms. It affects macOS Monterey prior to 12.7, macOS Ventura prior to 13.6, and iOS/iPadOS prior to 16.7; the flaw was resolved by adding improved validation checks in those releases.
A local attacker with an existing user account can exploit the weakness to raise privileges to root or kernel level, gaining broader access to system resources and data. The CVSS 7.8 score reflects the low attack complexity and lack of required user interaction once local access is obtained.
Apple security advisories HT213927, HT213931, and HT213932 detail the affected builds and confirm that the fixes are included in the September 2023 OS updates; organizations should apply the patches to eliminate the exposure.
Apple has stated it is aware of reports that the issue was actively exploited against iOS versions before 16.7, indicating targeted in-the-wild use prior to disclosure. The associated EPSS values remained low and showed only minimal change.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-46451
Vulnerability Data
The issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.7, iOS 16.7 and iPadOS 16.7, macOS Ventura 13.6. A local attacker may be able to elevate their privileges. Apple is aware of a report that…
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this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 25 September 2023
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
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.
Requires detection and response to audit logging failures as an unusual or exceptional condition.
Implements detection of unusual or exceptional conditions followed by safe mode entry, reducing the window for exploitation of unchecked conditions.
Training ensures users perform required checks for unusual or exceptional conditions as part of contingency roles, limiting attacker leverage from skipped validations.
IR testing directly validates checks for unusual or exceptional conditions that could indicate security incidents.
Requires ongoing monitoring of organization-defined metrics and analysis, enabling checks for unusual or exceptional conditions.
Security testing routinely checks for unusual or exceptional inputs/conditions, identifying missing validation steps that flaw remediation then resolves.
Requires detection of unusual conditions followed by a controlled transition to the defined failure state.
MTTF determination forces explicit checks for conditions that precede predictable component failure.
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.
Logging can record unhandled exceptions but does not prevent the weakness itself.
Monitoring may detect symptoms of unhandled conditions but does not eliminate the root weakness.
Secure development life cycle mandates exception handling and input validation that directly prevent missing checks for unusual conditions.
Application security requirements explicitly call for handling of exceptional conditions and error paths.
A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (fail securely, least privilege, distrust external input, security-oriented design reviews) that reach some but not most CWE-754 cases; many exceptional-condition checks live in low-level code paths outside architecture-level engineering.
Secure coding standards directly mandate proper checks for exceptional and unusual conditions.
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-754, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-354.