Isolation escape via deficient Neural Engine checks
Published Sep 23, 2022 · Updated May 22, 2025
Apple Neural Engine in macOS before 12.5 and watchOS before 8.7 allows local users to cross an app's isolation boundary. The watchOS bulletin says improved checks prevent sandbox escape without disclosing the failed operation; the macOS bulletin identifies an out-of-bounds read corrected by bounds checking. An attacker must first run an app locally on a device with Apple Neural Engine, with consequences ranging from sandbox escape on watchOS to kernel code execution on macOS.
Summary
What happened
Apple Neural Engine in macOS before 12.5 and watchOS before 8.7 allows local users to cross an app's isolation boundary. The watchOS bulletin says improved checks prevent sandbox escape without disclosing the failed operation; the macOS bulletin identifies an out-of-bounds read corrected by bounds checking. An attacker must first run an app locally on a device with Apple Neural Engine, with consequences ranging from sandbox escape on watchOS to kernel code execution on macOS.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-32845
- Published
- Sep 23, 2022
- Updated
- May 22, 2025
- Vendor
- Apple
- Product
- macOS
- Classifications
- CWE-693, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 23, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 22, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=unspecified <12.5
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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