CVE-2023-38606

Exp

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.

Published: 2023-07-27 Last update: 2025-10-31 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published

View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-38606 is rated Active Exploitation (70/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Core evidence: CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2023-07-26) affecting Apple / Multiple Products. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. Mandatory action: The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2023-38606

Name: Apple Multiple Products Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2023-07-26

Action due: 2023-08-16

Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-38606

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-11-21	6.08%	0.12%	-5.97%
2	2025-11-18	0.14%	6.08%	+5.95%
3	2025-08-13	—	0.14%	—

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-38606

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.8	3.6	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-38606

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-38606

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
apple	ipados	< 15.7.8	cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados::::::::
apple	ipados	>= 16.0, < 16.6	cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados::::::::
apple	iphone_os	< 15.7.8	cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os::::::::
apple	iphone_os	>= 16.0, < 16.6	cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os::::::::
apple	macos	>= 11.0, < 11.7.9	cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos::::::::
apple	macos	>= 12.0.0, < 12.6.8	cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos::::::::
apple	macos	>= 13.0, < 13.5	cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos::::::::
apple	tvos	< 16.6	cpe:2.3:o:apple:tvos::::::::
apple	watchos	< 9.6	cpe:2.3:o:apple:watchos::::::::

References for CVE-2023-38606

URL	Tags
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213841	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213842	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213843	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213844	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213845	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213846	Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213848	Vendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-38606	US Government Resource

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