About the security content of watchOS 9.1

This document describes the security content of watchOS 9.1.

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 9.1

AppleMobileFileIntegrity

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to modify protected parts of the file system

Description: This issue was addressed by removing additional entitlements.

CVE-2022-42825: Mickey Jin (@patch1t)

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-2022-32932: Mohamed Ghannam (@_simo36)

Audio

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Parsing a maliciously crafted audio file may lead to disclosure of user information

Description: The issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2022-42798: Anonymous working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

AVEVideoEncoder

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 bounds checks.

CVE-2022-32940: ABC Research s.r.o.

CFNetwork

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted certificate may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A certificate validation issue existed in the handling of WKWebView. This issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-42813: Jonathan Zhang of Open Computing Facility (ocf.berkeley.edu)

GPU Drivers

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-2022-32947: Asahi Lina (@LinaAsahi)

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination or potentially execute code with kernel privileges

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

CVE-2022-46712: Tommy Muir (@Muirey03)

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-2022-32924: Ian Beer of Google Project Zero

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: A remote user may be able to cause kernel code execution

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

CVE-2022-42808: 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 memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2022-32944: Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Moveworks.ai

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

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

Description: A race condition was addressed with improved locking.

CVE-2022-42803: Xinru Chi of Pangu Lab, John Aakerblom (@jaakerblom)

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

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

Description: The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks.

CVE-2022-32926: Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Moveworks.ai

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

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

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2022-42801: Ian Beer of Google Project Zero

Safari

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may leak sensitive data

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

CVE-2022-42817: Mir Masood Ali, PhD student, University of Illinois at Chicago; Binoy Chitale, MS student, Stony Brook University; Mohammad Ghasemisharif, PhD Candidate, University of Illinois at Chicago; Chris Kanich, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Sandbox

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: An app may be able to access user-sensitive data

Description: An access issue was addressed with additional sandbox restrictions.

CVE-2022-42811: Justin Bui (@slyd0g) of Snowflake

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to user interface spoofing

Description: The issue was addressed with improved UI handling.

CVE-2022-42799: Jihwan Kim (@gPayl0ad), Dohyun Lee (@l33d0hyun)

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A type confusion issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2022-42823: Dohyun Lee (@l33d0hyun) of SSD Labs

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may disclose sensitive user information

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

CVE-2022-42824: Abdulrahman Alqabandi of Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research, Ryan Shin of IAAI SecLab at Korea University, Dohyun Lee (@l33d0hyun) of DNSLab at Korea University

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may disclose internal states of the app

Description: A correctness issue in the JIT was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2022-32923: Wonyoung Jung (@nonetype_pwn) of KAIST Hacking Lab

zlib

Available for: Apple Watch Series 4 and later

Impact: A user may be able to cause unexpected app termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2022-37434: Evgeny Legerov

CVE-2022-42800: Evgeny Legerov

Additional recognition

iCloud

We would like to acknowledge Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Moveworks.ai for their assistance.

Kernel

We would like to acknowledge Peter Nguyen of STAR Labs, Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Moveworks.ai, Tommy Muir (@Muirey03) for their assistance.

WebKit

We would like to acknowledge Maddie Stone of Google Project Zero, Narendra Bhati (@imnarendrabhati) of Suma Soft Pvt. Ltd., an anonymous researcher for their assistance.