Actively exploited vulnerability
Apple products: memory corruption flaw under attack
CVE-2021-1789 · Apple Multiple Products Type Confusion Vulnerability
What is affected
Apple products are found on ordinary personal computers and phones, so this is not only a problem for companies. If you use them and have not updated since the fix was released, you are exposed.
A type confusion issue affecting multiple Apple products allows processing of maliciously crafted web content, leading to arbitrary code execution.
What an attacker can do
This is a memory corruption flaw. It lets an attacker corrupt the program's memory by feeding it specially crafted content: a web page, a file or a network message. The result ranges from a crash to the attacker running their own code.
- How it is reached
- Over the internet or network
- Access the attacker needs
- No account needed
- Does the victim have to do something?
- Yes, the victim must open or click something
What to do
- Update Apple products now. Open the update or "About" screen, install whatever is offered and restart the app or device, because the fix is not active until you do.
- Turn on automatic updates so the next fix arrives without you having to look for it.
- If your device is too old to receive this update, stop using the affected app for anything sensitive and plan a replacement.
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
How urgent is it
CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on May 4, 2022, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by May 25, 2022, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.
The EPSS model estimates a 14% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 96% of all scored vulnerabilities.
Its CVSS severity score is 8.8 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.
Technical description
A type confusion issue was addressed with improved state handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Big Sur 11.2, Security Update 2021-001 Catalina, Security Update 2021-001 Mojave, tvOS 14.4, watchOS 7.3, iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4, Safari 14.0.3. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.