About the security content of watchOS 9.6

This document describes the security content of watchOS 9.6.

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 releases page.

Apple security documents reference vulnerabilities by CVE-ID when possible.

For more information about security, see the Apple Product Security page.

watchOS 9.6

Apple Neural Engine

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-34425: pattern-f (@pattern_F_) of Ant Security Light-Year Lab

Apple Neural Engine

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-38136: Mohamed GHANNAM (@_simo36)

CVE-2023-38580: Mohamed GHANNAM (@_simo36)

Find My

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to read sensitive location information

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions.

CVE-2023-32416: Wojciech Regula of SecuRing (wojciechregula.blog)

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: A remote user may be able to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt kernel memory

Description: A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-38590: Zweig of Kunlun Lab

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management.

CVE-2023-38598: Mohamed GHANNAM (@_simo36)

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: An integer overflow was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2023-36495: 香农的三蹦子 of Pangu Lab

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2023-38604: an anonymous researcher

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-32734: Pan ZhenPeng (@Peterpan0927) of STAR Labs SG Pte. Ltd.

CVE-2023-32441: Peter Nguyễn Vũ Hoàng (@peternguyen14) of STAR Labs SG Pte. Ltd.

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management.

CVE-2023-32381: an anonymous researcher

CVE-2023-32433: Zweig of Kunlun Lab

CVE-2023-35993: Kaitao Xie and Xiaolong Bai of Alibaba Group

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to modify sensitive kernel state. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7.1.

Description: This issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2023-38606: Valentin Pashkov, Mikhail Vinogradov, Georgy Kucherin (@kucher1n), Leonid Bezvershenko (@bzvr_), and Boris Larin (@oct0xor) of Kaspersky

libxpc

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to gain root privileges

Description: A path handling issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2023-38565: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (xlab.tencent.com)

libxpc

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to cause a denial-of-service

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2023-38593: Noah Roskin-Frazee

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: A website may be able to track sensitive user information

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.

WebKit Bugzilla: 257822

CVE-2023-38599: Hritvik Taneja, Jason Kim, Jie Jeff Xu, Stephan van Schaik, Daniel Genkin, and Yuval Yarom

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing a document may lead to a cross site scripting attack

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

WebKit Bugzilla: 257299

CVE-2023-32445: Johan Carlsson (joaxcar)

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions.

WebKit Bugzilla: 257331

CVE-2023-38592: Narendra Bhati (twitter.com/imnarendrabhati) of Suma Soft Pvt. Ltd, Pune - India, Valentino Dalla Valle, Pedro Bernardo, Marco Squarcina, and Lorenzo Veronese of TU Wien

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: A website may be able to bypass Same Origin Policy

Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2023-38572: Narendra Bhati (twitter.com/imnarendrabhati) of Suma Soft Pvt. Ltd, Pune - India

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2023-38594: Yuhao Hu

CVE-2023-38595: an anonymous researcher, Jiming Wang, Jikai Ren

CVE-2023-38600: Anonymous working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-38611: Francisco Alonso (@revskills)

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2023-37450: an anonymous researcher

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2023-42866: Francisco Alonso (@revskills) and Junsung Lee

WebKit Web Inspector

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing web content may disclose sensitive information

Description: The issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2023-38133: YeongHyeon Choi (@hyeon101010)

Additional recognition

WebKit

We would like to acknowledge Narendra Bhati (twitter.com/imnarendrabhati) of Suma Soft Pvt. Ltd, Pune - India for their assistance.