CVE-2023-42916

Exp

An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2, macOS Sonoma 14.1.2, Safari 17.1.2. Processing web content may disclose sensitive information. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1.

Published: 2023-11-30 Last update: 2025-10-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-42916 is rated Active Exploitation (70/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2023-12-04) affecting Apple / Multiple Products. a weakness (CWE-125) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. 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-2023-42916

Name: Apple Multiple Products WebKit Out-of-Bounds Read Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2023-12-04

Action due: 2023-12-25

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-42916

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 2026-04-25 0.03% 0.05% +0.02%
2 2025-11-21 0.53% 0.03% -0.49%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.53% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-42916

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-42916

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-42916

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-42916 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (webkit2gtk, wpewebkit), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 8, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-42916
gentoo high CVE-2023-42916: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-04), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/webkit-gtk); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-42916
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-42916
suse high CVE-2023-42916 severity important: SUSE including 133 source package names (WebKitGTK-4.0-lang-2.42.3-150400.4.67.1, WebKitGTK-4.0-lang-2.42.5-150600.10.35, …), 331 product×package rows across 38 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1, … (38 product lines)): Fixed 331. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-42916/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-42916 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (qtwebkit-opensource-src, qtwebkit-source, webkit2gtk, webkitgtk, wpewebkit), 45 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 21, DNE 16, released 5, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-42916

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-42916

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apple safari < 17.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:apple:safari:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple ipados < 15.8.1 cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple ipados >= 16.0, < 16.7.3 cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple ipados >= 17.0, < 17.1.2 cpe:2.3:o:apple:ipados:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple iphone_os < 15.8.1 cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple iphone_os >= 16.0, < 16.7.3 cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple iphone_os >= 17.0, < 17.1.2 cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple macos >= 14.0, < 14.1.2 cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 39 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
webkitgtk webkitgtk\+ < 2.42.3 cpe:2.3:a:webkitgtk:webkitgtk\+:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-42916

URL Tags
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/12 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/13 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/3 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Dec/8 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/35 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/05/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/AD2KIHHCUBQC2YYH3FJWAHI5BG3QETOH/ Mailing List
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/P5LQS6VEI7VIZNC7QGQ62EOV45R5RJIR/ Mailing List
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-04 Third Party Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT214031 Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT214032 Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT214033 Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214033 Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214034 Vendor Advisory
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214062 Vendor Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5575 Mailing List
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-42916 US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence