How severe is CVE-2023-41991?

CVE-2023-41991 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-2023-41991?

Affected package information for CVE-2023-41991 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2023-41991?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2023-41991 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-2023-41991 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 4 known exploit references for CVE-2023-41991, 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-2023-41991?

CVE-2023-41991 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 3.9%, placing it in the 89th 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-2023-41991 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2023-41991 (Apple Multiple Products Improper Certificate Validation Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2023-09-25. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2023-10-16. 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.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-41991?

CVE-2023-41991 is classified as CWE-295 (CWE-295). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2023-41991?

CVE-2023-41991 affects apple ipados (1 version, e.g. 17.0); apple iphone os (1 version, e.g. 17.0); apple macos. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2023-41991 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-41991 was published on September 21, 2023 and was last updated on November 5, 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 2023-09-25 — agencies required to remediate by 2023-10-16

CVE-2023-41991

MEDIUM

A certificate validation issue was addressed. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.6, iOS 16.7 and iPadOS 16.7. A malicious app may be able to bypass signature validation. Apple…

Published

Sep 21, 2023

Updated

Nov 5, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

4 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

3.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk89th 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

A certificate validation issue was addressed. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13.6, iOS 16.7 and iPadOS 16.7. A malicious app may be able to bypass signature validation. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.

Affected Products

3 products · 5 configurations

ipadosapple

< 16.7

1 version

17.0

iphone osapple

< 16.7

1 version

17.0

macosapple

≥ 13.0 && < 13.6

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.

A certificate validation issue was addressed. This issue is fixed in mac…

support.apple.comGoogle-sheetSep 2023

A certificate validation issue was addressed. This issue is fixed in mac…

nvd.nist.govNVDSep 2023

A certificate validation issue was addressed. This issue is fixed in mac…

cisa.govCISASep 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-41991 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2023-41991 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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