Saint Smith, the Agent Who Walked Out of a Web Page

Patron of iPhone kernels, overflowing integers, and the keys to the kingdom handed over by a browser.

Life

The second of the methods published by felix-pb in the kfd project, Smith (CVE-2023-32434) was an integer overflow in the XNU kernel reachable even from the browser's sandbox. Apple fixed it in June 2023 with iOS 16.5.1, warning that it may have been exploited: Kaspersky had found it in the Operation Triangulation chain, the spyware that reached iPhones through iMessage. One integer that was too big led all the way to kernel read and write.

Prayer

O Saint Smith, who opens the whole kernel with a number too large, let our counters know when to stop. Amen.

How to celebrate

Celebrated by updating to iOS 16.5.1 or later and checking the bounds before you add.

Count carelessly, and you're counting for the attacker.