VulnerabilityPublished 26 Sep 2023Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-40450: Apple macOS · An App May Bypass Gatekeeper Checks

Affects Apple macOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 14 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

Severity

High

Rated High by the CNA (apple) · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 14

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 26 Sep 2023
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 26 Oct 2026.

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 macOS to 14.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Apple macOS	Affected <14	Fixed in 14

AI-suggested

This vulnerability is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14. Users and administrators should update affected systems to macOS 14 or later to ensure the Gatekeeper bypass issue is resolved.

Description

CVE-2023-40450 is a vulnerability in Apple macOS that allowed an app to bypass Gatekeeper checks. Gatekeeper is a security feature designed to ensure that only trusted software runs on macOS. This issue was addressed and fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.

Impact

An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to run applications that bypass Gatekeeper's security checks, potentially leading to the execution of untrusted or malicious code on affected macOS systems prior to version 14. However, there is no indication of known exploitation in the wild.

Summary

This vulnerability in macOS allowed applications to bypass the Gatekeeper security mechanism, potentially enabling untrusted or malicious apps to run without proper verification. The issue was resolved by Apple through improved checks implemented in macOS Sonoma 14, which prevents apps from circumventing Gatekeeper.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Oct 2026, 21:58 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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