Security updates are becoming more important as zero-day vulnerabilities become more common. Now, Apple has released updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices to patch two critical security problems. You should update as soon as you can.
Apple has released macOS Sonoma 14.1.2 for Mac computers, iOS 17.1.2 for iPhone products, and iPadOS 17.1.2 for iPad devices. The updates fix two security exploits in WebKit, the browser engine used in Safari and other applications that embed web content (which includes all third-party browsers on iOS and iPadOS). The exploits are identified as CVE-2023-42916 and CVE-2023-42917, and both vulnerabilities allow malicious web pages to run arbitrary code on your device. The exact details of the exploits aren’t public yet to protect users.
Importantly, both security vulnerabilities are likely already being used by malicious web pages. Apple said in a support article, “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1.” They were both discovered by Clément Lecigne, working for Google’s Threat Analysis Group.
If you have a Mac running a release older than macOS Sonoma, either because your Mac is too old or because you haven’t got around to updating, Apple also released Safari 17.1.2 as an independent update with the same fixes. The Safari update is available for both macOS Monterey and macOS Ventura. Apple has not yet released bug fixes for versions of iOS before iOS 17, which sometimes happens for security vulnerabilities.
This is far from the only zero-day security vulnerability for Apple devices we’ve seen in 2023. There was another one in Safari in April, yet another Safari security flaw in August, and an iMessage exploit was fixed in September. It’s more important than ever to stop avoiding system updates—ahead of the holiday travel season, that might be a good message to reiterate to friends and family.
You should receive a push notification on your devices to install the updates, if you haven’t already. You can also manually check for updates on iPhone and iPad or check for updates on Mac.