On Monday, Apple not only updated macOS Ventura, but the company also released macOS Monterey 12.6.4 and Big Sur 11.7.5, the two operating systems that preceded Ventura. Since Monterey and Big Sur are older, Apple doesn’t update them with features, but does release security updates from time to time. The standard release notes only state that the update “provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users”.
Here are the details of the security update
macOS Monterey 12.6.4 security updates
the following security updates are for macOS Monterey 12.7.4, although several of them are for both Monterey and Big Sur machines:
Apple Neural Engine
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
- Description: The issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
- CVE-2023-23540: Mohamed GHANNAM (@_simo36)
AppleMobileFileIntegrity
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: A user can access protected areas of the file system
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.
- CVE-2023-23527: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
Archive utility
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An archive may be able to bypass Gatekeeper
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.
- CVE-2023-27951: Brandon Dalton of Red Canary and Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security
Calendar
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Importing a maliciously crafted calendar invite can exfiltrate user data
- Description: Multiple validation issues have been addressed through improved input cleaning.
- CVE-2023-27961: Riza Sabuncu (@rizasabuncu)
ColorSync
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to read arbitrary files
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.
- CVE-2023-27955: JeongOhKyea
CommCenter
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may cause an unexpected system termination or write kernel memory
- Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed through improved input validation.
- CVE-2023-27936: Tingting Yin of Tsinghua University
dcerp
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: A remote user could potentially cause an unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved border checks.
- CVE-2023-27935: Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos
dcerp
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: A remote user may be able to unexpectedly terminate the system or corrupt the kernel memory
- Description: The issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
- CVE-2023-27953: Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos
- CVE-2023-27958: Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos
Foundation
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Parsing a maliciously crafted plist may lead to an unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution
- Description: An integer overflow was addressed with improved input validation.
- CVE-2023-27937: an anonymous researcher
ImageIO
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to an unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution
- Description: An out of range read error has been addressed through improved boundary checking.
- CVE-2023-27946: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
Kernel
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
- Description: A use after free issue was addressed through improved memory management.
- CVE-2023-23514: Xinru Chi of Pangu Lab and Ned Williamson of Google Project Zero
Kernel
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Influence: An app with root privileges may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
- Description: The issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
- CVE-2023-27933: sqrtpwn
Kernel
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to release kernel memory
- Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved input cleaning.
- CVE-2023-28200: Arsenii Kostromin (0x3c3e)
Model I/O
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Influence: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to an unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution
- Description: An out-of-bounds read error was addressed through improved input validation.
- CVE-2023-27949: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
Network extension
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: A user in a privileged network position may be able to spoof a VPN server configured with only EAP authentication on a device
- Description: The issue was addressed through improved authentication.
- CVE-2023-28182: Zhuowei Zhang
PackageKit
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to modify protected portions of the file system
- Description: A logic issue was addressed through improved checks.
- CVE-2023-23538: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
- CVE-2023-27962: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
podcasts
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Influence: An app may have access to user sensitive data
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.
- CVE-2023-27942: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
Sandpit
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Influence: An app may be able to modify protected portions of the file system
- Description: A logic issue was addressed through improved checks.
- CVE-2023-23533: Mickey Jin (@patch1t), Koh M. Nakagawa of FFRI Security, Inc., and Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security
Sandbox
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Influence: An app may be able to bypass privacy preferences
- Description: A logic issue was addressed through improved validation.
- CVE-2023-28178: Yiğit Kan YILMAZ (@yilmazcanyigit)
Shortcuts
- Available for: macOS Monterey
- Impact: A shortcut may be able to use sensitive data in certain actions without prompting the user
- Description: The issue was addressed through additional permissions checks.
- CVE-2023-27963: Jubaer Alnazi Jabin of TRS Group Of Companies and Wenchao Li and Xiaolong Bai of Alibaba Group
System settings
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may have access to user sensitive data
- Description: A privacy issue was addressed with improved redaction of private data for log entries.
- CVE-2023-23542: an anonymous researcher
System settings
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to read sensitive location data
- Description: A permissions issue was addressed through improved validation.
- CVE-2023-28192: Guilherme Rambo from Best Buddy Apps (rambo.codes)
vim
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Multiple issues in Vim
- Description: Multiple issues were addressed by updating to Vim version 9.0.1191.
- CVE-2023-0433
- CVE-2023-0512
XPC
- Available for: macOS Monterey/macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to break out of the sandbox
- Description: This issue was addressed with a new entitlement.
- CVE-2023-27944: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
macOS Big Sur 11.7.5 security updates
In addition to the above updates, the following security patches are for macOS Big Sur 11.7.5 only:
AppleAVD
- Available for: macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
- Description: A use after free issue was addressed through improved memory management.
- CVE-2022-26702: an anonymous researcher, Antonio Zekic (@antoniozekic) and John Aakerblom (@jaakerblom)
Carbon Core
- Available for: macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Processing a maliciously crafted image may result in process memory disclosure
- Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.
- CVE-2023-23534: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)
Find my
- Available for: macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may be able to read sensitive location data
- Description: A privacy issue was addressed with improved redaction of private data for log entries.
- CVE-2023-23537: An anonymous researcher
Identity Services
- Available for: macOS Big Sur
- Influence: An app may have access to information about a user’s contacts
- Description: A privacy issue was addressed with improved redaction of private data for log entries.
- CVE-2023-27928: Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security
ImageIO
- Available for: macOS Big Sur
- Influence: Processing a maliciously crafted image may result in process memory disclosure
- Description: The issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
- CVE-2023-23535: ryuzaki
How to update to macOS
Apple recommends that all users install the upsates as soon as possible. Follow these instructions to get them on your machine:
- Open System Preferences.
- click on Software update.
- Your Mac will spend about a minute checking for updates. If an update is available for your Mac, you have the option to click Upgrade now and then download the installer for the update to macOS.
- You can continue to use your Mac while the installer downloads. Once the installer is downloaded, you can click to install the new update.
