CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2019-8540

Improper Initialization

Published: Dec 18, 2019 | Modified: Dec 30, 2019
CVSS 3.x
5.5
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS 2.x
7.1 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

A memory initialization issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.2, macOS Mojave 10.14.4, tvOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2. A malicious application may be able to determine kernel memory layout.

Weakness

The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Iphone_os Apple * 12.2 (excluding)
Mac_os_x Apple * 10.14.4 (excluding)
Tvos Apple * 12.2 (excluding)
Watchos Apple * 5.2 (excluding)

Potential Mitigations

  • Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
  • For example, in Java, if the programmer does not explicitly initialize a variable, then the code could produce a compile-time error (if the variable is local) or automatically initialize the variable to the default value for the variable’s type. In Perl, if explicit initialization is not performed, then a default value of undef is assigned, which is interpreted as 0, false, or an equivalent value depending on the context in which the variable is accessed.

References