How severe is CVE-2023-38606?

CVE-2023-38606 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-38606?

Affected package information for CVE-2023-38606 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2023-38606?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2023-38606 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2023-38606 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2023-38606, including 3 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-38606?

CVE-2023-38606 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.1%, placing it in the 28th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

Is CVE-2023-38606 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2023-38606 (Apple Multiple Products Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2023-07-26. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2023-08-16. The required action was: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2023-38606?

CVE-2023-38606 affects apple ipados; apple iphone os; apple macos; apple tvos, and 1 more product(s). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2023-38606 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-38606 was published on July 27, 2023 and was last updated on October 31, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2023-07-26 — agencies required to remediate by 2023-08-16

CVE-2023-38606

MEDIUM

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.8, iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, tvOS 16.6, macOS Big Sur…

Published

Jul 27, 2023

Updated

Oct 31, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

3 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk28th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.6.8, iOS 15.7.8 and iPadOS 15.7.8, iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6, tvOS 16.6, macOS Big Sur 11.7.9, macOS Ventura 13.5, watchOS 9.6. 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.

Affected Products

5 products · 9 configurations

ipadosapple

≥ 16.0 && < 16.6

range

iphone osapple

≥ 16.0 && < 16.6

range

macosapple

≥ 13.0 && < 13.5

range

tvosapple

< 16.6

range

watchosapple

< 9.6

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is f…

support.apple.comGoogle-sheetJul 2023

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is f…

cisa.govCISAJul 2023

This issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is f…

nvd.nist.govNVDJul 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-38606 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2023-38606 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

5.5/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Local

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

None

UI:User Interaction

Required

S:Scope

Unchanged

C:Confidentiality

None

I:Integrity

High

A:Availability

None

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

Timeline

First exploit

Jul 24, 2023

KEV added

Jul 26, 2023

Disclosed

Jul 27, 2023

Last updated

Oct 31, 2025

Identifiers

CVE-2023-38606

References

Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Advisorysupport.apple.com Webcisa.gov

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