Private browsing history disclosure via favicon cache
Published Jun 10, 2024 · Updated Mar 18, 2025
Information disclosure in WebKit in Apple macOS before 12.5 allows remote attackers to infer Safari private-browsing history via a website. WebKit serves favicons cached during normal browsing inside private sessions, and the Performance API reveals whether each icon caused a request. A user must visit the attacker's site in private mode after visiting probed sites normally; the site learns matching history, not page contents.
Summary
What happened
Information disclosure in WebKit in Apple macOS before 12.5 allows remote attackers to infer Safari private-browsing history via a website. WebKit serves favicons cached during normal browsing inside private sessions, and the Performance API reveals whether each icon caused a request. A user must visit the attacker's site in private mode after visiting probed sites normally; the site learns matching history, not page contents.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-32933
- Published
- Jun 10, 2024
- Updated
- Mar 18, 2025
- Vendor
- Apple
- Product
- macOS
- Classifications
- CWE-200
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 10, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 18, 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
- CanITrack Safari favicon history-sniffing demonstrationproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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