Threats / Apple / CVE-2023-42824
CVE-2023-42824
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Apple iOS and iPadOS vulnerability
Apple iOS and iPadOS contain an unspecified local privilege escalation vulnerability that has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A local privilege escalation flaw in iOS and iPadOS enables attackers with device access to gain elevated system permissions. Active exploitation in the wild indicates practical threat to users, particularly those targeted by sophisticated threat actors.
CISA KEV Yes · 2023-10-054EPSS 0.00943 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
5 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-10-05).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.00943 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Apple, iOS and iPadOS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1 day after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I gain initial access to the device through a separate vulnerability or user compromise.
Business
User device security is compromised, creating entry point for further system compromise.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit this local privilege escalation flaw to elevate my permissions from user-level to system-level access.
Business
Attacker obtains root or kernel-level control, bypassing all application sandboxing and security boundaries.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I install persistent malware, exfiltrate sensitive data, or modify system behavior without user detection.
Business
Complete device compromise enables data theft, surveillance, financial fraud, or lateral movement to enterprise networks.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05