CVE-2023-42917

Exp

A memory corruption vulnerability was addressed with improved locking. 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 lead to arbitrary code execution. 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-2023-42917 is rated Active Exploitation (70/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2023-12-04) affecting Apple / Multiple Products. a weakness (CWE-787) 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-2023-42917

Name: Apple Multiple Products WebKit Memory Corruption 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-2023-42917

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 2025-12-28 0.04% 0.07% +0.03%
2 2025-12-27 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-42917

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-42917

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-42917

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-42917 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-2023-42917
gentoo high CVE-2023-42917: 1 GLSA(s) (202401-04), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/webkit-gtk); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-42917
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-42917
suse high CVE-2023-42917 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-2023-42917/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-42917 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-2023-42917

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-42917

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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 39 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
webkitgtk webkitgtk\+ < 2.42.3 cpe:2.3:a:webkitgtk:webkitgtk\+:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-42917

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 Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-42917 US Government Resource
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