Security News
In brief Apple has patched an iOS and iPad OS vulnerability that's already been exploited. Apple issued patches for iOS 16.1 and iPad OS 16, to address this and 19 other vulnerabilities.
Incoming OpenSSL critical fix: Organizations, users, get ready!The OpenSSL Project team has announced that, on November 1, 2022, they will release OpenSSL version 3.0.7, which will fix a critical vulnerability in the popular open-source cryptographic library. Apple fixes exploited iOS, iPadOS zero-dayFor the ninth time this year, Apple has released fixes for a zero-day vulnerability exploited by attackers to compromise iPhones.
Why did a single security bulletin describe updates dubbed iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16? We know that iPadOS 16 was delayed, so did this recent update mean that iPadOS was now getting patched only to the same security level as iOS 16, which came out more than a month ago, while iOS advanced to 16.1, thus leaving iPadOS more than five weeks adrift in cybersecurity terms? Why did iPadOS 16 ultimately report itself as version 16.1? After updating, the About screen apparently says iPadOS 16, like the security bulletin did, while the iPadOS Version screen explicitly says 16.1. It sounds as though iPhones and iPads now not only both support "The version family known as 16", but also both have the very latest security fixes, so why not simply call both of them version 16.1 everywhere for clarity, including in the security bulletin and on the About screen? Where did macOS 10 Catalina go? Traditionally, Apple drops support for macOS version X-3 when version X comes out, but is that the actual explanation of why macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 12 Monterey got updates while Catalina didn't? What happened to iOS/iPadOS 15.7.1? When iOS 16 came out in September 2022, the previous version family received critical updates as well, taking it to version 15.7.
Apple has released new security updates to backport patches released earlier this week to older iPhones and iPads, addressing an actively exploited zero-day bug. Apple addressed the zero-day vulnerability in iOS 15.7.1 and iPadOS 15.7.1 today with improved bounds checking.
A now-patched security flaw in Apple's iOS and macOS operating systems could have potentially enabled apps with Bluetooth access to eavesdrop on conversations with Siri. Apple said "An app may be able to record audio using a pair of connected AirPods," adding it addressed the Core Bluetooth issue in iOS 16.1 with improved entitlements.
PayPal has added passkeys for passwordless login to accounts across Apple devices. Passkeys allows users to login to accounts with cryptographic key pairs instead of passwords.
The "Clear-and-present danger" prize goes to iOS and iPadOS, which get updated to version 16.1 and 16 respectively, where one of the listed security vulnerabilites allows kernel code execution from any app, and is already actively being exploited. As you might have assumed, given that the release of Ventura takes macOS to version 13, three-versions-ago macOS 10 Catalina doesn't appear in the list this time.
For the ninth time this year, Apple has released fixes for a zero-day vulnerability exploited by attackers to compromise iPhones. CVE-2022-42827 is an out-of-bounds write issue in the iOS and iPadOS kernel, which can be exploited to allow a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.
Tech giant Apple on Monday rolled out updates to remediate a zero-day flaw in iOS and iPadOS that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. The iPhone maker said it addressed the bug with improved bounds checking, while crediting an anonymous researcher for reporting the vulnerability.
In security updates released on Monday, Apple has fixed the ninth zero-day vulnerability used in attacks against iPhones since the start of the year. As Apple explains, if successfully exploited in attacks, this zero-day could have been used by potential attackers to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.