Security Researchers Delve Into Major Vulnerability Patched in iOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2

With almost every iOS and macOS update, Apple includes a host of security improvements to address major vulnerabilities. iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2, released back in January, were no exception. Both updates included fixes for a long list of issues, including two that were highlighted today in a report from Trellix.

Trellix Advanced Research Center discovered a new class of privilege execution bugs within iOS and macOS, which could be exploited to delve into an iPhone or Mac user’s messages, location data, photos, call history, and more.

In a blog post highlighting how the bug was found, Trellix explains how mitigations that Apple introduced for the FORCEDENTRY zero-click exploit in September 2021 could by bypassed, allowing for a “huge range of potential vulnerabilities.”

Trellix found its first vulnerability in the coreduetd process, which could be used to give an attacker access to a person’s calendar, address book, and photos. Vulnerabilities in OSLogService and NSPredicate were able to be exploited to achieve code execution within Springboard, providing attackers access to the camera, microphone, call history, and more.

Data about these vulnerabilities was relayed to Apple, and the company fixed the exploits in iOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2 Ventura. Security support documents for both updates were refreshed yesterday to reflect the addition of the patches.

Trellix is credited with two vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-23530 and CVE-2023-23531) that Apple patched with improved memory handling. Trellix said that it thanks Apple for working quickly to fix the issues.