Threats / Apple / CVE-2023-41990
CVE-2023-41990
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Apple Multiple Products vulnerability
Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS contain an unspecified vulnerability in font file processing that allows arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An attacker can achieve code execution on affected Apple devices by crafting a malicious font file. Exploitation requires user interaction or delivery through a trusted channel. Active exploitation in the wild indicates elevated risk despite low EPSS score.
CISA KEV Yes · 2024-01-084EPSS 0.01388 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
16 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 2024-01-08).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.01388 — 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:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Apple, Multiple Products. 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 119 days 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
Craft a malicious font file designed to trigger memory corruption or logic flaws in the font rendering engine.
Business
Devices running unpatched Apple operating systems become vulnerable to remote code execution through font-based attack vectors.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
Distribute the malicious font through email, web content, messaging applications, or other delivery mechanisms that trigger automatic font processing.
Business
User base faces compromise of device integrity, data confidentiality, and potential lateral movement within enterprise environments.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
Execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application or system process handling font rendering.
Business
Attackers gain persistent access, data exfiltration capability, or ability to install secondary payloads across the Apple device ecosystem.
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
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by appleCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder is named in the public CVE record or the scanned vendor advisory — attribution scoped to the sources checked.
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
npub1j7gt9ky7sfcrjn8jjee6693dkzvk4rahs0fk2suu7968dfns62zs3mqm3y.