CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-28205

Use After Free

Published: Apr 10, 2023 | Modified: Jun 27, 2024
CVSS 3.x
8.8
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
8.8 IMPORTANT
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Ubuntu
MEDIUM

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in Safari 16.4.1, iOS 15.7.5 and iPadOS 15.7.5, iOS 16.4.1 and iPadOS 16.4.1, macOS Ventura 13.3.1. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Weakness

Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Safari Apple * 16.4.1 (excluding)
Ipados Apple * 15.7.5 (excluding)
Ipados Apple 16.0 (including) 16.4.1 (excluding)
Iphone_os Apple * 15.7.5 (excluding)
Iphone_os Apple 16.0 (including) 16.4.1 (excluding)
Macos Apple * 13.3.1 (excluding)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 RedHat webkit2gtk3-0:2.36.7-1.el8_7.3 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 RedHat webkit2gtk3-0:2.36.7-1.el9_1.3 *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu bionic *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu devel *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu esm-apps/bionic *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu esm-apps/focal *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu esm-apps/jammy *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu esm-apps/noble *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu esm-infra/xenial *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu focal *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu jammy *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu kinetic *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu lunar *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu mantic *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu noble *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu trusty *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu upstream *
Qtwebkit-opensource-src Ubuntu xenial *
Qtwebkit-source Ubuntu bionic *
Qtwebkit-source Ubuntu esm-apps/bionic *
Qtwebkit-source Ubuntu esm-apps/xenial *
Qtwebkit-source Ubuntu trusty *
Qtwebkit-source Ubuntu xenial *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu bionic *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu esm-infra/xenial *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu focal *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu jammy *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu kinetic *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu lunar *
Webkit2gtk Ubuntu xenial *
Webkitgtk Ubuntu bionic *
Webkitgtk Ubuntu esm-apps/bionic *
Webkitgtk Ubuntu esm-apps/xenial *
Webkitgtk Ubuntu trusty *
Webkitgtk Ubuntu xenial *
Wpewebkit Ubuntu esm-apps/focal *
Wpewebkit Ubuntu esm-apps/jammy *
Wpewebkit Ubuntu focal *
Wpewebkit Ubuntu jammy *
Wpewebkit Ubuntu trusty *

Extended Description

The use of previously-freed memory can have any number of adverse consequences, ranging from the corruption of valid data to the execution of arbitrary code, depending on the instantiation and timing of the flaw. The simplest way data corruption may occur involves the system’s reuse of the freed memory. Use-after-free errors have two common and sometimes overlapping causes:

In this scenario, the memory in question is allocated to another pointer validly at some point after it has been freed. The original pointer to the freed memory is used again and points to somewhere within the new allocation. As the data is changed, it corrupts the validly used memory; this induces undefined behavior in the process. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Potential Mitigations

References