CVE-2015-1067

Vulnerability

Secure Transport in Apple iOS before 8.2, Apple OS X through 10.10.2, and Apple TV before 7.1 does not properly restrict TLS state transitions, allowing a remote attacker to force the use of weak EXPORT_RSA cipher suites. This vulnerability is part of the FREAK attack (CVE-2015-0204, CVE-2015-1637 are related but distinct) [2]. The affected code path is reachable when a vulnerable client connects to a server that accepts export-grade RSA ciphers.

Exploitation

An attacker with a man-in-the-middle position on the network can intercept a TLS handshake between a vulnerable Apple device and a susceptible server. By crafting TLS traffic that triggers an improper state transition, the attacker can downgrade the negotiated cipher to an EXPORT_RSA suite, which uses only 512-bit RSA keys [2]. No authentication or user interaction beyond normal browsing is required; the attack is transparent to the user.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to decrypt the intercepted TLS session, gaining access to sensitive data such as passwords, cookies, or other confidential information transmitted over HTTPS [2]. The attacker can also potentially modify the data in transit. The compromise is limited to the confidentiality and integrity of the specific session; no persistent access or privilege escalation is achieved.

Mitigation

Apple addressed this vulnerability in iOS 8.2 [4], OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 and Security Update 2015-004 [1], and Apple TV 7.1. Users should update to the latest available versions. No workaround exists for unpatched systems. The vulnerability is not listed on the CISA KEV catalog as of the publication date.