Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2004-0743

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2004-11-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Safari in Mac OS X before 10.3.5, after sending form data using the POST method, may re-send the data to a GET method URL if that URL is redirected after the POST data and the user uses the forward or backward buttons, which may cause an information leak.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

In Safari on Mac OS X before 10.3.5, when form data is submitted via POST and the server redirects to a GET URL, using the browser's forward or backward buttons can cause Safari to re-send the POST data to the GET endpoint, potentially leaking sensitive information to an unintended location.

MitigationUpgrade to Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later which contains the patched Safari version. For custom web applications, ensure servers reject POST data on GET endpoints and implement proper cache-control headers to prevent browser caching of sensitive responses.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:= 10.2= 10.2.1= 10.2.2= 10.2.3= 10.2.4= 10.2.5= 10.2.6= 10.2.7= 10.2.8= 10.3= 10.3.1= 10.3.2
Mac Os X ServerOperating system
Affected:= 10.2= 10.2.1= 10.2.2= 10.2.3= 10.2.4= 10.2.5= 10.2.6= 10.2.7= 10.2.8= 10.3= 10.3.1= 10.3.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check the Mac OS X version
    Go to Apple menu > About This Mac to view the installed Mac OS X version number
    Affected if The version is 10.2.x or 10.3.x through 10.3.2 (any of the listed affected versions)
  2. Confirm Safari is the browser in use
    Verify that Safari is the web browser being used to access web applications with form-based data submission
    Affected if Safari is the browser and the OS version is in the affected range
  3. Identify POST form submissions with server redirects
    Review web application traffic: submit a form via POST method and check if the server returns a redirect (HTTP 301/302) to a GET-accessible URL
    Affected if The application uses POST for forms and the server redirects to a GET URL, creating the condition where forward/back button usage can resend POST data to the GET endpoint

You are affected if running Mac OS X 10.2.x or 10.3.x through 10.3.2 and using Safari to interact with web applications that submit sensitive data via POST and receive server redirects to GET URLs.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later which contains the patched Safari version. For custom web applications, ensure servers reject POST data on GET endpoints and implement proper cache-control headers to prevent browser caching of sensitive responses.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-0743 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2004-0743 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data