About the security content of watchOS 7.6

This document describes the security content of watchOS 7.6.

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 updates page.

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

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

watchOS 7.6

ActionKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A shortcut may be able to bypass Internet permission requirements

Description: An input validation issue was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2021-30763: Zachary Keffaber (@QuickUpdate5)

Analytics

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A local attacker may be able to access analytics data

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions.

CVE-2021-30871: Denis Tokarev (@illusionofcha0s)

App Store

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious application may be able to bypass certain Privacy preferences

Description: A permissions issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2021-31006: Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security

Audio

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A local attacker may be able to cause unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2021-30781: tr3e

CoreAudio

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2021-30775: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab

CoreAudio

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: Playing a malicious audio file may lead to an unexpected application termination

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2021-30776: JunDong Xie of Ant Security Light-Year Lab

CoreText

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-2021-30789: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro, Sunglin of Knownsec 404 team

Crash Reporter

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2021-30774: Yizhuo Wang of Group of Software Security In Progress (G.O.S.S.I.P) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

CVMS

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges

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

CVE-2021-30780: Tim Michaud(@TimGMichaud) of Zoom Video Communications

dyld

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A sandboxed process may be able to circumvent sandbox restrictions

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2021-30768: Linus Henze (pinauten.de)

FontParser

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

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

CVE-2021-30760: Sunglin of Knownsec 404 team

FontParser

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted tiff file may lead to a denial-of-service or potentially disclose memory contents

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2021-30788: tr3e working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

FontParser

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

Description: A stack overflow was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2021-30759: hjy79425575 working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

Identity Service

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious application may be able to bypass code signing checks

Description: An issue in code signature validation was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2021-30773: Linus Henze (pinauten.de)

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-2021-30779: Jzhu, Ye Zhang(@co0py_Cat) 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: A buffer overflow was addressed with improved bounds checking.

CVE-2021-30785: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious attacker with arbitrary read and write capability may be able to bypass Pointer Authentication

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

CVE-2021-30769: Linus Henze (pinauten.de)

Kernel

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: An attacker that has already achieved kernel code execution may be able to bypass kernel memory mitigations

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2021-30770: Linus Henze (pinauten.de)

libxml2

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A remote attacker may be able to cause arbitrary code execution

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2021-3518

Networking

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted webpage may lead to a system denial of service

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

CVE-2021-1821: Georgi Valkov (httpstorm.com)

TCC

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

Impact: A malicious application may be able to bypass certain Privacy preferences

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

CVE-2021-30798: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

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

CVE-2021-30758: Christoph Guttandin of Media Codings

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

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

CVE-2021-30795: Sergei Glazunov of Google Project Zero

WebKit

Available for: Apple Watch Series 3 and later

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

Description: This issue was addressed with improved checks.

CVE-2021-30797: Ivan Fratric of Google Project Zero

Additional recognition

CoreText

We would like to acknowledge Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro for their assistance.

Power Management

We would like to acknowledge Pan ZhenPeng(@Peterpan0927) of Alibaba Security Pandora Lab, Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit), and Lisandro Ubiedo (@_lubiedo) of Stratosphere Lab for their assistance.

Safari

We would like to acknowledge an anonymous researcher for their assistance.

Sandbox

We would like to acknowledge Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security for their assistance.

sysdiagnose

We would like to acknowledge Carter Jones (linkedin.com/in/carterjones/) and Tim Michaud (@TimGMichaud) of Zoom Video Communications, Csaba Fitzl (@theevilbit) of Offensive Security, Pan ZhenPeng(@Peterpan0927) of Alibaba Security Pandora Lab, and Wojciech Reguła (@_r3ggi) of SecuRing for their assistance.