Apple Patches Dozens of Vulnerabilities in iOS, macOS

Apple this week released new updates for iOS and macOS users to address tens of security vulnerabilities and other bugs in the two platforms.

A total of 31 security flaws were patched with the release of iOS 12.1.3, impacting components such as AppleKeyStore, Bluetooth, Core Media, CoreAnimation, FaceTime, IOKit, Kernel, Keyboard, libxpc, Safari Reader, SQLite, WebKit, and WebRTC. 

Many of the addressed issues could result in arbitrary code execution, Apple reveals in an advisory. These include bugs impacting Bluetooth, FaceTime, Kernel, libxpc, SQLite, WebKit, and WebRTC. 

Other vulnerability types resolved in the new iOS release include sandbox restriction bypass, privilege escalation, sandbox escape, denial of service, and cross site scripting attack when processing maliciously crafted web content.

Apple also resolved an issue where password autofill would fill in passwords after they were manually cleared, as well as bugs that resulted in malicious applications causing unexpected changes in memory shared between processes. Other flaws could allow malicious applications determine kernel memory layout or read restricted memory. 

macOS Mojave 10.14.3 addresses 23 vulnerabilities in AppleKeyStore, Bluetooth, Core Media, CoreAnimation, FaceTime, Hypervisor, Intel Graphics Driver, IOKit, Kernel, libxpc, Natural Language Processing, QuartzCore, SQLite, and WebRTC.

The flaws could lead to arbitrary code execution, restricted memory leakage, denial of service, manipulation of memory shared between processes, privilege escalation, sandbox escape, and sandbox restriction bypass. 

Patches for these are also available for macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (Security Update 2019-001 High Sierra) and macOS Sierra 10.12.6 (Security Update 2019-001 Sierra). 

This week, Apple also released tvOS 12.1.2, with patches for 24 vulnerabilities, most of which impact WebKit (9) and Kernel (6). watchOS 5.1.3 was pushed with patches for 17 flaws. 

Apple addressed 10 vulnerabilities in Safari with the release of version 12.0.3 of the browser. These impact Safari Reader and WebKit and could lead to arbitrary code execution or cross site scripting attacks. 

A total of 12 vulnerabilities were patched with the release of iCloud for Windows 7.10 this week, impacting SQLite and WebKit and leading to arbitrary code execution or universal cross site scripting. 

Related: Apple Patches Tens of Flaws in iOS, macOS, Safari

Related: Apple Patches Passcode Bypass, FaceTime Flaws in iOS

Related: Apple Boosts Security in iOS 12, macOS Mojave

Original author: Ionut Arghire