Young Woman Using Apple Watch on Purple Background

Update now! Apple patches zero-day vulnerability affecting Macs, Apple Watch, and Apple TV

Apple has released security updates for a zero-day vulnerability that affects multiple products, including Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

The flaw is an out-of-bounds write issue—tracked as CVE-2022-22675—in AppleAVD, a decoder that handles specific media files.

An out-of-bounds write or read flaw makes it possible to manipulate parts of the memory which are allocated to more critical functions. This could allow an attacker to write code to a part of the memory where it will be executed with permissions that the program and user should not have.

Attackers could take control of affected devices if they exploit this flaw.

CVE-2022-22675 is the same vulnerability that affected macOS Monterey 12.3.1, iOS 15.4.1, and iPad 15.4.1. The flaw for these was patched in March.

This latest batch of updates has improved bounds checking for additional Apple products running specific operating systems, particularly macOS Big Sur 11.6.6, watchOS 8.6, and tvOS 15.5. These OSs are installed in Apple Macs running Big Sur, Apple Watch Series 3 and later, and Apple TV (4K, 4K 2nd generation, and 4K HD).

Apple says it’s aware this flaw is currently being abused in the wild. It didn’t go into detail, likely to give customers time to patch up their Apple devices.

BleepingComputer has notedthat attacks against CVE-2022-22675 might only be targeted in nature. However,if you’re using any or all of the above Apple products we mentioned, it is still wise to apply updates as soon as you can.

Stay safe!

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Jovi Umawing

Knows a bit about everything and a lot about several somethings. Writes about those somethings, usually in long-form.