CVE-2023-28185VulnerabilityPublished 10 Jan 2024Updated 3 Jun 2025

CVE-2023-28185: Apple iOS and iPadOS · An app may be able to cause a denial-of-service

Affects Apple iOS and iPadOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium : upgrade to 16.4 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 9% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 16.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Apple iOS and iPadOS to 16.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apple iOS and iPadOS	Affected <16.4	Fixed in 16.4

AI-suggested

European organizations should prioritize deploying the official Apple security updates that address CVE-2023-28185 across all affected devices, including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, and Macs running the specified OS versions. Beyond patching, organizations should implement strict application control policies to limit installation of untrusted or unauthorized apps, reducing the risk of malicious apps exploiting this vulnerability. User education is critical to prevent inadvertent execution of suspicious apps, emphasizing caution when installing new applications or interacting with unknown sources. Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions should enforce update compliance and restrict app installations to vetted sources such as the Apple App Store. Additionally, monitoring device health and crash logs can help detect potential exploitation attempts. For environments with high security requirements, consider restricting local device access and enforcing strong authentication to reduce the risk of malicious app deployment. Regularly reviewing and updating incident response plans to include scenarios involving device availability loss due to DoS attacks will improve organizational resilience.

Description

An integer overflow was addressed through improved input validation. This issue is fixed in tvOS 16.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4, watchOS 9.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.4, iOS 15.7.4 and iPadOS 15.7.4. An app may be able to cause a denial-of-service.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability primarily threatens the availability of Apple devices running vulnerable versions of iOS, iPadOS, and related operating systems. A successful exploit could cause devices to crash or become unresponsive, disrupting business operations, especially in environments relying heavily on Apple hardware for communication, productivity, or critical applications. While the vulnerability does not compromise confidentiality or integrity, the denial-of-service effect could interrupt workflows, delay communications, and potentially impact customer-facing services if Apple devices are integral to operations. Sectors such as healthcare, finance, and government, which often use Apple devices for secure communications and mobile operations, may experience operational disruptions. However, the requirement for local access and user interaction limits the risk of widespread automated exploitation, reducing the likelihood of large-scale attacks. Still, targeted attacks or insider threats could leverage this vulnerability to cause disruption.

CWE-190Integer Overflow or Wraparound (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is incremented to a value that is too large to store in the associated representation. When this occurs, the value may become a very small or negative number.
Requirements
Ensure that all protocols are strictly defined, such that all out-of-bounds behavior can be identified simply, and require strict conformance to the protocol.
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.4.3 (opens in a new tab)
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Forced Integer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Jul 2025, 14:25 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-190

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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