Medium

Writable read-only memory mapping in Apple operating systems

IdentifiersCVE-2024-54494CWE-362· Concurrent Execution using Shared…

CVE-2024-54494 is a race condition vulnerability in Apple operating systems that could allow an attacker to create a memory mapping that is nominally read-only but can still be written to. Apple states the issue was addressed with additional validation. The vulnerability affects multiple Apple platforms, including iPadOS 17.7.3, watchOS 11.2, visionOS 2.2, tvOS 18.2, macOS Sequoia 15.2, iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, macOS Ventura 13.7.2, and macOS Sonoma 14.7.2. Based on the vendor description, exploitation relies on a race in memory-mapping state handling that breaks expected write protections.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to bypass intended memory protection semantics by obtaining a writable view of memory that should be enforced as read-only. This can undermine process and system integrity, enable unauthorized modification of protected memory regions, and potentially serve as a primitive for more advanced exploitation such as tampering with application state, defeating security assumptions around page protections, or facilitating privilege-escalation and kernel-level exploitation depending on the reachable code path and execution context.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by limiting execution of untrusted code and untrusted applications on affected devices, enforcing least privilege for local users and apps, and restricting environments where attackers can obtain code execution on the target system. Because this is a race condition in low-level memory-mapping behavior, there is no specific reliable configuration workaround in the provided information; vendor patching is the primary mitigation.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the vendor-provided fixes: iPadOS 17.7.3, watchOS 11.2, visionOS 2.2, tvOS 18.2, macOS Sequoia 15.2, iOS 18.2/iPadOS 18.2, macOS Ventura 13.7.2, or macOS Sonoma 14.7.2, as appropriate for the affected device. Apple indicates the issue was remediated through additional validation.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

AppleIpadosoperating_system

AppleIphone Osoperating_system

AppleMacosoperating_system

AppleTvosoperating_system

AppleVisionosapplication

AppleWatchosoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

2 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

2 SOURCESView more in app

apple supportNews

Jan 25, 2026

About the security content of iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 - Apple Support

A kernel race condition that could leak sensitive kernel state; fixed with improved locking.

apple supportNews

Jan 25, 2026

About the security content of visionOS 2.2 - Apple Support

A race condition in Apple Vision Pro that could allow creation of a writable mapping marked read-only; fixed with additional validation.

What this page doesn’t show

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This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity