What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-38606: Apple Multiple Products Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability

• Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2023-07-26
• EPSS: 2.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2023-07-27 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.8, iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, tvOS 16.6, macOS Big Sur 11.7.9, macOS Ventura 13.5, watchOS 9.6. An app may be able to modify sensitive kernel state. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7.1.

Affected products

• Apple iPadOS: before 15.7.8; from 16.0 before 16.6 — fixed in 15.7.8, 16.6
• Apple Iphone Os: before 15.7.8; from 16.0 before 16.6 — fixed in 15.7.8, 16.6
• Apple macOS: from 11.0 before 11.7.9; from 12.0.0 before 12.6.8; from 13.0 before 13.5 — fixed in 11.7.9, 12.6.8, 13.5
• Apple tvOS: before 16.6 — fixed in 16.6
• Apple watchOS: before 9.6 — fixed in 9.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apple iPadOS 15.7.8, 16.6; Apple Iphone Os 15.7.8, 16.6; Apple macOS 11.7.9, 12.6.8, 13.5; Apple tvOS 16.6; Apple watchOS 9.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213841
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213842
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213843
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213844
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213845
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213846
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213848
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213841
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213842
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213843
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213844
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213845

Get alerted when CVE-2023-38606 or the next vulnerability affects your stack