Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-43000

Memory Safety in Apple Ipados ≤ 15.8.7

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCMemory Safety
Published
05 November 2025
Modified
12 March 2026
KEV Added
05 March 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
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 0.039 89th percentile
Risk Priority 90 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-43000 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 Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 11% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

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 tracked as CVE-2023-43000 and assigned CWE-416 was addressed through improved memory management in multiple Apple products. The affected components include macOS Ventura prior to 13.5, iOS and iPadOS prior to 16.6, Safari prior to 16.6, and older iOS/iPadOS versions prior to 15.8.7. The flaw resides in the handling of web content and can result in memory corruption when maliciously crafted input is processed.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the issue by supplying malicious web content that a victim processes in the affected browser or operating system component. Successful exploitation yields high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability without requiring elevated privileges, though user interaction is needed to render the content.

Apple security advisories at the referenced support pages document the fixes and list the updated versions that resolve the vulnerability. The same references include a detailed analysis of an iOS exploit kit observed in the wild that leverages similar memory corruption primitives. The current EPSS score remains low at 0.0003 with no indicated upward movement.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.5, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, Safari 16.6, iOS 15.8.7 and iPadOS 15.8.7. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to memory corruption.

CWE(s)
CWE-416
KEV Date Added
05 March 2026

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28205Same 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-2026-43727Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43704Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-43536Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43699Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43726Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43734Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 16.6
apple
ipados
≤ 15.8.7 · 16.0 — 16.6
apple
iphone os
≤ 15.8.7 · 16.0 — 16.6
apple
macos
≤ 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

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

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

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

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

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

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

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

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

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

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

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

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

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` (authoritative 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. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References