CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-9863

Improper Initialization

Published: Oct 22, 2020 | Modified: Jan 09, 2023
CVSS 3.x
7.8
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
9.3 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

A memory initialization issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6, macOS Catalina 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, watchOS 6.2.8. An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

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
Ipados Apple * 13.6 (excluding)
Iphone_os Apple * 13.6 (excluding)
Mac_os_x Apple * 10.15.6 (excluding)
Tvos Apple * 13.4.8 (excluding)
Watchos Apple * 6.2.8 (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