Two Zero-Day flaws have been discovered on Apple Devices affecting macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.
The vulnerabilities involve an arbitrary code execution and a buffer overflow. Reports indicate that these vulnerabilities are being actively exploited.
This is considered a high-risk vulnerability as it requires no user interaction. Apple has swiftly acted on the report and released security patches for fixing these vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities affected the services ImageIO and Wallet.
As per reports shared with Cyber Security News, threat actors seem to have been using NSO Group’s Pegasus mercenary spyware for exploitation. The exploit also included PassKit, which consists of a maliciously crafted image.
The exploit chain for these vulnerabilities has been referred to as BLASTPASS by Citizen Lab. Apple stated that enabling the Lockdown Mode will block this attack.
“Apple’s update will secure devices belonging to regular users, companies, and governments around the globe. The BLASTPASS discovery highlights the incredible value of our collective cybersecurity of supporting civil society organizations.” reads the post by Citizen Lab.
This vulnerability exists in macOS Ventura 13.5.2, iOS 16.6.1, and iPadOS 16.6.1, which a threat actor can exploit by sending a maliciously crafted image. Processing of the image leads to a buffer overflow, resulting in an arbitrary code execution.
The severity of this vulnerability is yet to be confirmed. However, Apple has released macOS Ventura 13.5.2, iOS 16.6.1, and iPadOS 16.6.1 in order to fix this vulnerability.
This vulnerability exists due to a validation issue that can be exploited by threat actors, leading to arbitrary code execution. These vulnerabilities exist in versions prior to Apple watchOS 9.6.2, iOS 16.6.1, and iPadOS 16.6.1.
The severity of this vulnerability is yet to be confirmed. However, Apple has released watchOS 9.6.2 to fix this vulnerability in the Apple watch.
| Name and information link | Available for | Release date |
| macOS Ventura 13.5.2 | macOS Ventura | 07 Sep 2023 |
| iOS 16.6.1 and iPadOS 16.6.1 | iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later | 07 Sep 2023 |
| watchOS 9.6.2 | Apple Watch Series 4 and later | 07 Sep 2023 |
Source: Apple
Detailed information about the exploitation and mitigation is yet to be published.
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