About the security content of watchOS 7.4
This document describes the security content of watchOS 7.4.
About Apple security updates
For our customers' protection, Apple doesn't disclose, discuss or confirm security issues until an investigation has occurred and patches or releases are available. Recent releases are listed on the Apple security updates page.
Apple security documents reference vulnerabilities by CVE-ID when possible.
For more information about security, see the Apple Product Security page.
watchOS 7.4
Released 26 April 2021
AppleMobileFileIntegrity
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A malicious application may be able to bypass Privacy preferences
Description: An issue in code signature validation was addressed with improved checks.
CVE-2021-1849: Siguza
Audio
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: an application may be able to read restricted memory
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1808: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
CFNetwork
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may disclose sensitive user information
Description: A memory initialisation issue was addressed with improved memory handling.
CVE-2021-1857: An anonymous researcher
Compression
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation
Description: Processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2021-30752: Ye Zhang (@co0py_Cat) of Baidu Security
Entry added 21 July 2021
CoreAudio
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-2021-30664: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
Entry added 6 May 2021
CoreAudio
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted audio file may disclose restricted memory
Description: an out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation.
CVE-2021-1846: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
CoreAudio
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: a malicious application may be able to read restricted memory
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1809: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
CoreFoundation
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A malicious application may be able to leak sensitive user information
Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved logic.
CVE-2021-30659: Thijs Allemande of Computes
CoreText
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted font may result in the disclosure of process memory
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.
CVE-2021-1811: Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
FaceTime
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: muting a CallKit call while ringing may not result in mute being enabled
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.
CVE-2021-1872: Siraj Zaneer of Facebook
FontParser
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing a maliciously crafted font file may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation.
CVE-2021-1881: An anonymous researcher, Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab, Mickey Jin of Trend Micro and Hou JingYi (@hjy79425575) of Qihoo 360
Foundation
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: an application may be able to gain elevated privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.
CVE-2021-1882: Gabe Kirkpatrick (@gabe_k)
Foundation
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges
Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved logic.
CVE-2021-1813: Cees Elzinga
Heimdal
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing maliciously crafted server messages may lead to heap corruption
Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.
CVE-2021-1883: Gabe Kirkpatrick (@gabe_k)
Heimdal
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: a remote attacker may be able to cause a denial of service
Description: A race condition was addressed with improved locking.
CVE-2021-1884: Gabe Kirkpatrick (@gabe_k)
ImageIO
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.
CVE-2021-1880: Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
CVE-2021-30653: Ye Zhang of Baidu Security
CVE-2021-1814: Ye Zhang of Baidu Security, Mickey Jin and Qi Sun of Trend Micro and Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab
CVE-2021-1843: Ye Zhang of Baidu Security
ImageIO
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-2021-1885: CFF of Topsec Alpha Team
ImageIO
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-2021-1858: Mickey Jin of Trend Micro
ImageIO
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: An out-of-bounds write was addressed with improved input validation
Description: Processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2021-30743: Ye Zhang (@co0py_Cat) of Baidu Security, Jzhu (working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative), Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab, CFF of Topsec Alpha Team, Jeonghoon Shin (@singi21a) of THEORI (working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative)
Entry added 21 July 2021
ImageIO
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: This issue was addressed with improved checks
Description: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2021-30764: Anonymous (working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative)
Entry added 21 July 2021
iTunes Store
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: an attacker with JavaScript execution may be able to execute arbitrary code
Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management.
CVE-2021-1864: CodeColorist of Ant-Financial LightYear Labs
Kernel
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: a malicious application may be able to disclose kernel memory
Description: A memory initialisation issue was addressed with improved memory handling.
CVE-2021-1860: @0xalsr
Kernel
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A buffer overflow was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-2021-1816: Tielei Wang of Pangu Lab
Kernel
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.
CVE-2021-1851: @0xalsr
Kernel
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: copied files may not have the expected file permissions
Description: The issue was addressed with improved permissions logic.
CVE-2021-1832: An anonymous researcher
Kernel
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: a malicious application may be able to disclose kernel memory
Description: An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-2021-30660: Alex Plaskett
libxpc
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges
Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation.
CVE-2021-30652: James Hutchins
libxslt
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to heap corruption
Description: A double free issue was addressed with improved memory management.
CVE-2021-1875: Found by OSS-Fuzz
MobileInstallation
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to modify protected parts of the file system
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions.
CVE-2021-1822: Bruno Virlet of The Grizzly Labs
Preferences
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to modify protected parts of the file system
Description: a parsing issue in the handling of directory paths was addressed with improved path validation.
CVE-2021-1815: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) and Yuebin Sun (@yuebinsun2020) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (xlab.tencent.com)
CVE-2021-1739: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) and Yuebin Sun (@yuebinsun2020) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (xlab.tencent.com)
CVE-2021-1740: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) and Yuebin Sun (@yuebinsun2020) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (xlab.tencent.com)
Safari
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to write arbitrary files
Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved input sanitisation.
CVE-2021-1807: David Schütz (@xdavidhu)
Tailspin
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: a local attacker may be able to elevate their privileges
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.
CVE-2021-1868: Tim Michaud of Zoom Communications
WebKit
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to a cross-site scripting attack
Description: An input validation issue was addressed with improved input validation.
CVE-2021-1825: Alex Camboe of Aon's Cyber Solutions
WebKit
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management.
CVE-2021-1817: zhunki
Entry updated 6 May 2021
WebKit
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to universal cross site scripting
Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions.
CVE-2021-1826: An anonymous researcher
WebKit
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: processing maliciously crafted web content may result in the disclosure of process memory
Description: A memory initialisation issue was addressed with improved memory handling.
CVE-2021-1820: André Bargull
Entry updated 6 May 2021
WebKit Storage
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: 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.
Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management.
CVE-2021-30661: yangkang (@dnpushme) of 360 ATA
WebRTC
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management
Description: A remote attacker may be able to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt kernel memory.
CVE-2020-7463: Megan2013678
Entry added 21 July 2021
Wi-Fi
Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later
Impact: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management
Description: A buffer overflow may result in arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2021-1770: Jiska Classen (@naehrdine) of Secure Mobile Networking Lab, TU Darmstadt
Entry added 21 July 2021
Additional recognition
AirDrop
We would like to acknowledge @maxzks for their assistance.
CoreAudio
We would like to acknowledge an anonymous researcher for their assistance.
CoreCrypto
We would like to acknowledge Andy Russon of Orange Group for their assistance.
File Bookmark
We would like to acknowledge an anonymous researcher for their assistance.
Foundation
We would like to acknowledge CodeColorist of Ant-Financial Light-Year Labs for their assistance.
Kernel
We would like to acknowledge Antonio Frighetto of Politecnico di Milano, GRIMM, Keyu Man, Zhiyun Qian, Zhongjie Wang, Xiaofeng Zheng, Youjun Huang, Haixin Duan, Mikko Kenttälä (@Turmio_) of SensorFu, Proteas and Tielei Wang of Pangu Lab for their assistance.
Security
We would like to acknowledge Xingwei Lin of Ant Security Light-Year Lab and john (@nyan_satan) for their assistance.
sysdiagnose
We would like to acknowledge Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Leviathan for their assistance.
WebKit
We would like to acknowledge Emilio Cobos Álvarez of Mozilla for their assistance.
Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.